Do bedtime stories still work?

Since both of mine started reading it's a nightmare as they want to take over and end up squabbling. We read in the day time together but I don't read at night. I just let them read themselves until they're ready to sleep

We’ve always read to ours (nearly 10 and 13 and still going!) and they aren’t a magic wand, but I think reading to children helps develop listening and oracy skills and is such a good opportunity to explore life concepts both real and imaginary. Neither of my boys particularly love reading themselves though (although both are good at it), so I don’t think it necessarily fosters a love of reading, but they both like being read to before bed. There are tons of benefits though if you google. Just make sure you find a book suitable for both ages as some of the ones recommended previously are for toddlers!

some if my fondest memories are of reading to my kids. They still talk about some of the stories - and the voices and additions I added - now and they Are both in their 20s.

Honestly op it’s not too late to start and I promise it’ll be a gift to you as well as them.

Good luck

Children will always love bedtime reading. Quite often my 6 year old reads her encyclopaedia as she is obsessed with facts, rather than wanting a story, but we read something every evening. It’s a great part of bedtime, any age.

I would definitely try some Roald Dahl by the way!

I used to joke that the only way to get my daughter to sleep would be to read the most boring book in the world in a monotone dreary voice - because otherwise she would get too into the story and just want more.
I think if you are wanting to get them to love books more then at their age bedtime might not be best as they will be more interested in just wanting to sleep.
Reading to them is a great idea but personally at their ages I would do it as a daytime thing sat on the sofa.

Does your partner read to them/their mum if no longer together

Apologies. You're doing a great thing. I really hope you all love discovering new books together.

Depends on the children but yes, lots of kids love them. Mine are 15 and 12 and still want to be read to in the evening - we’re reading His Dark Materials at the moment. They’re almost certainly both ND and home/family are very important to them, though, so I think it’s a source of comfort when most kids of their age would’ve grown out of it. I say go for it!

It is never, never too late to start reading to and with your children. I'm pretty sure I had bedtime stories/shared reading into secondary school (had a younger sibling).

As much as the stories itself, children love that your whole attention is on them and the book: when you're really, you can't be also making a shopping list, or putting laundry on, or answering a quick email. Just read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with DS5 and loved how much he loved it.

I still read with my 13yo some nights, at her request! We take it in turns to read sections of whatever book she is reading, or she'll read out loud to me while I braid her hair.

I love it because it gives me an insight into her world and interests. We talk about - what do you think the author meant, what does this phrase imply, how do you think that character feels about' etc

I also read with my 11yo but tend to do that before tea as he likes to wind down for sleep on his own.

We also have an audible subscription so they can listen to audiobooks on their Alexas when they are tired. We listen to books together in the car (do a lot of long road trips) and quite often I'll lay down in their room and listen to 20 mins of a story together at night.

It is a really nice part of the day that we all still really value.

It's great you want to read to them. TV and screens before bed is not good for the brain.

I would read chapters of something they're likely to enjoy for their age, harry potter maybe?

You can also read together and pick one character to voice each.

That's okay. We don't know other people's parenting journeys. They could be adopted. Mum might have been very young, or unwell, or otherwise unable to focus on things like bedtime stories. It's great that she is thinking of this now.

To paraphrase Maya Angelou - we do the best we can with the knowledge and ability we have at the time.

And can people please stop being horrible to someone who wants to start reading to their children. You’re not coming across well.

What do you mean by "work"?
Getting to sleep or becoming lovers of books?

The books mentioned by Dramatic sound like books for a younger audience than 8 or 12. Her children are younger than yours.

Why don’t you ask the children to choose a book they would like to hear? Or if they aren’t big readers at the moment and can’t decide, you could get a selection from the library. The librarians should be able to advise.

I would suggest avoiding ‘issues’ books (the kind of book that mainly seems to be about educating children about fostering, homelessness, alcoholism etc rather than being a good, entertaining story) and stick to fairly lighthearted themes by good writers, at least to begin with.

Bedtime stories are fundamental to learning in my opinion. Read to both of my children until their reading got to the standard where they would read to themselves. Every night from about 18 months to 9 years. My 9 year old reads Harry Potter for 30 mins before going to sleep and I read to my 7 year old on nights he doesn’t read his school reading book. On a typical night he will ask me what words mean, we’ll chat about the story, the characters, the pictures etc. We read the same books a few times so when there is a word he can’t read I.e Galapogus Islands, but the third time he can’t read the word himself.

Another thread talked about Year 4 kids not knowing what the word velvet meant - they would know a simple word like that if they are read to a lot.

Wow. Just wow.

Yes my DC love a bedtime story, it’s part of their routine. They get upset if they’ve gone to bed late and there’s no time. Younger DS likes one or two short stories with pictures. Older DS likes one or two chapters from a novel. I really enjoy reading them. My DM read me a bedtime story until I was 13, then we moved house and they just stopped.

Just read your update! Not too late. At those ages go for chapter books. My 11 year old is read to every night. We're reading the Percy Jackson series. In the past we've done Harry Potter, but I let her choose. We've even done some Enid Blyton (she loved the Malory Towers and St Clare's series) . The Narnia series was also a big hit.
Have fun.