This post was inspired by Mammasaurus's book week but I didn’t note the deadline to get involved and now I’ve missed it. Better luck next time.
Look! A book! Any book, actually. I love my “That’s not my . . .” books, all of them, I love my ‘classics;’ the Hungry Caterpillar, Guess How Much I Love You, The Gruffalo, the list goes on.
Mummy is a believer that “reading is succeeding” so I’ve had books around me since I was born, and if that sounds pushy and over the top, she doesn’t care.
We both relish the story part of bedtime routine. I don’t understand a huge amount yet, and there’s not a lot of correlation between Mummy’s voice and the pictures for me, but that’ll come. At the moment, it’s more important to have our special, private time. Just us. I’ve had my bath and my milk, brushed my teeth and combed my hair, and I choose a book for Mummy to read. I sit on her knee and listen, and I point at the pictures.
I think at this age, I’m more receptive to the association than to the actual words – books mean a cuddle, some uninterrupted one to one time with my mummy. It’s all positive. Let’s face it, for that sort of experience, the books don’t need to have a complex storyline – make it up as you go along! Describe the pictures, point things out to us, and we’ll show you what we see.
Going forwards, Mummy hopes this special book time will help me with my concentration and stimulate my imagination. It will help with background knowledge on all sorts of subjects, not just English. She read all that in a book herself.
Mummy tells a tragic story about a little boy she saw in the book section of a toy shop. He was carefully looking through lots of books, enjoying the pictures, the colours, the words on the page, and just the feel of the book. His mother shouted at him, “’Urry up, you’ve got a book at home!” A book?! How terrible! Books are so readily available now and they needn’t be expensive. I’m with Mummy there, I think that poor little boy was deprived.
I’d urge you all to make time for books. Quarter of an hour every day. Of course, longer if you fancy! It’s not long, but it’s infinitely better than the telly!
CB
I agree with your Mummy CB. I take my children to the charity shops to buy books, they are cheap and then we are able to return them for the charity to re-sell.
ReplyDeleteI once watched one of those Super Nanny/ Nanny 911 programs where a child was sent to his room to read as a Punishment! He had tears streaming down his face as his mother barked at him to read for being naughty. Not quite the association your Mum is hoping you will have with books :-(
GG had at least 100 books by the age of 1 - no wonder she uses so many long words now. I have great expectations for you CB!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your suggestion about charity shops - that's a great idea, and a very cost-effective way of reading new things. There's been loads in the media recently about our local libraries being under threat, so that's another easy way to access them. I can't begin to comprehend reading as punishment!
ReplyDeleteThanks Actually Mummy. And there was I thinking "loquacious" was a description your mummy used! I still have a lot to learn from you as I'm only "chatty." ;-)
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