Reading to Others…
As part of the bedtime ritual we have in our house for my daughter, my wife and I take turns reading to our daughter before she goes to sleep. Typically, my wife will read from one of the numerous books on her bookshelf. I used to follow in suit, until I became bored with the same books over and over again. At the same time I didn’t want to start buying books by the bushel and go broke for new reading material, so I began to look for something a bit more interesting.
I started out with some research on books for 5 year olds, which didn’t pan out as well as I hoped. Most of the books for kids that young are not much more advanced than the board books we have already lining the shelves. Not wanting to get way over her head, I found some titles in the 8-12 year old range that I felt would be easy for her to comprehend. So far we’ve had good success. The first book I attempted was:
Marley: A Dog Like No Other by John Grogan
It’s a good book and I think she followed along well. A story about a family and their dog, it is a edited version for the younger ages. There is an adult version and it is also being released as a movie this Christmas. Even more of an incentive to follow along in the book for my daughter.
The beauty of reading books that might be a little ahead of her comprehension is that she gets the benefit of listening to a story that isn’t over the top with maturity, but enough of a glimpse of “big kid” books. She also has the option in a year or so to read the book on her own, and use it to hone her own reading skills.
But the best reason for doing any of this at all is the time I get to spend with my daughter and catch a glimpse of her growing up a little bit every night. The frightening part is how much more she is able to read on her own each day as well.