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
