To stop reading a bedtime story to ds?

[justfoundout2014]

Breaks my heart, but it's just not working for us any more. He is nearly 8 and a very strong reader. What ever we read (recent examples are Harry Potter 1-3, How to train..., Lemony Snicket, etc) within a few nights of a chapter a night from me he reads ahead and either humours me by asking me to read what he's already read, and gets bored, or I read from where he's got to, which is better, but before long he finishes it anyway. The list of books I have read a third of is growing ever longer.

He ruefully admitted tonight that he doesn't enjoy it much and prefers reading himself and going at his own pace. He talks to me about what he has read, but I still think there could be a benefit to us reading together (new vocab - he has a dictionary by his bed, but I'm sure he skips over most new words, as I used to at his age), modelling expression, the joy of sharing a story...

It has been lovely part of our routine so I am sad we can't seem to get it to work anymore. DD (5) and he have very different interests, but I have had success with Polly and the Stupid Wolf and Willow Valley books to read to both of them after tea, so any other similar recommendations would be great.

AIBU to give up on the bedtime read?

Very glad I posted this and there are some lovely ideas. I had another thread about his inability to switch off at bedtime and some children's meditation CDs were recommended on there, so that's another thing we could do together.

It's nice to hear about people's memories (or lack of them) of parents reading to them. I love reading, have a lit degree and am an English teacher and, like others here, have very few memories of being read to, but stacks of being curled up somewhere reading alone; being taken to Lear's bookshop in Cardiff as a treat; being given my first Enid Blyton book by a strange and beardy man who my parents had been putting up for a few weeks; reading in odd places and being told to "put that bloody book down!"

One thing I do remember is my parents arguing about whether it was a bad thing that I was only reading Agatha Christie books (I was about 11 at the time). At that point my mother took action and we read Rebecca at bedtimes between us. It was a bit of a chore, but I did enjoy the time together - my parents were a bit 'hands off' as a rule. It didn't broaden my reading though - that happened naturally as I got older, so I suppose I am reluctant to 'engineer' ds's reading habits in case it diminshed his enthusiasm.

In my mind it's not engineering his reading habits to find a book that you can both enjoy. My DD is y3 and another strong reader (aren't they all?!) but her choice of books shouldn't be limited to the Y3-4 shelves of the school and local libraries. I'm a grown up and I still love to have a book enthusiastically recommended to me by a friend. Sometimes it's something you'd never have come across yourself and you end up enjoying it. So why wouldn't you make some suggestions? You don't have to sit him down and force feed him James Joyce.

I do know what you mean OP, we went through a stage with DD when she just wanted to read by herself. Her reading to us, in particular, became a huge chore. But her junior school is huge on reading aloud - DD's teacher reads to them every moment she gets, even when they're getting changed for PE! So we've had no choice but to stick with it really, both us reading to her and her reading to us. Now I read to her and she takes over for a couple of pages, it's much more chilled than when we were doing colour coded "reading books". (Secretly I am with your DS though. I love reading in my head but loathe reading aloud. I find it a chore. I wish I didn't, but there we go.)

I would just trust his development and his need for change in this area.

I was in the same position as you when my boys reached 10ish. But all is not lost!! They are now 17 and every now and then we get the books out that they used to love and I read to them again!! 'My Blanket is Blue' and Monkey See Monkey Do and...
You have set a blue print of the love books for your DS for the rest of his life now and that is amazing :)