Fitting It In: Reading With Your Kids

Picture the scene: It’s 8:30pm at night, my seven-year-old daughter is tucked in her bed and has picked out her favorite new book for me to read to her. First she needs to kiss her dolls and stuffed animals and say good-night to them…and while she’s busy doing that, I, bad mommy, fall asleep on the rug next to her bed. “Wake up, Mommy!” she screams, shaking my shoulders. “I wasn’t asleep…I was just resting,” I say, groggily opening Ramona’s World and trying to focus on the page. But the truth is, I was out cold.

Sound familiar to any of you? I know how important reading with my children is in promoting their love of books and learning…and, sometimes, bedtime story time needs to be short and sweet because I’m tired after a full day of work and taking care of children and home. Fortunately, as a busy mom, I’ve figured out ways to integrate literacy skills into teachable moments that are just part of our everyday lives…and these are simple activities that you can share with your little ones.

My children are now seven and nine and because my son has autism and is delayed in some cognitive areas, we are still working on teaching him basic reading skills, while we are reinforcing the learning that is happening in my daughter’s first grade classroom. The activities that I describe below work well for toddlers, preschool age children and can be fun and productive for elementary age children as well: 
Read at the table: In my home, we try and sit down for a family dinner together as many nights during the week as we can. My kids eat in about ten minutes, so I invite them to stay at the table while my husband and I finish and look at a book. Sometimes when my husband needs to work late, I feed the children first and they come back to the table for dessert with dad. We’ll pull out a favorite story to read during dessert time. We’ll also pull out stories when we’re cuddling on the couch eating an after school snack.

2.       In the car: How much of your life do you spend in the car schlepping your sweeties to their various activities? Driving can be a fun time to make up your own stories. Get inspired by the sights that you’re driving by, the weather, the activities that are ahead in your day. You can start a story with one sentence, “One day, a big moving truck was on its way to a magical town…” and invite your child(ren) to make up the next sentence. Take turns until you’ve created your own tale! This activity helps your child understand that stories have a beginning, middle and end and inspires imagination.

4.       Tell Your Child’s Story: One of my favorite ways to make up an original story is to make my child the main character and simply narrate his/her day. “One day, a beautiful boy named George woke up and ate a very big breakfast. He helped to put on his clothes and put toothpaste on his toothbrush. He walked to school with mom…” Nothing fancy, just framing what your child does during the day into a narrative. You can enrich the story with vocabulary words that you’d like your child to learn and you can invite him/her to help tell the story. This process is a lovely way to bond with your babies after a busy day—your child can hear the ways that you’ve noticed all that he/she has done during a busy day.

5.       Sign up for PJ Library: If you haven’t already! How much fun is it to receive a monthly package with wonderful new books? Inside of the flap of the PJ Library books are questions that you can ask your child after reading together. Or simple ask, “What was your favorite part of the story?” You’ll be amazed with what conversations will be started.

My children keep their PJ books on a special bookshelf and they still pick out the stories to read many evenings before bed…when mommy stays awake. :)

Gabby Kaplan-Mayer,

Program Director for Family Engagement in Center City and for Special Needs Resources