To read five books to ds every night?

[Howdoyoushop]

This started when they were That’s Not My books and the like but now he’s into Julia Donaldson and so on.

So it is a lot.

OTOH we both enjoy it. So should I try to cut back or keep going?

@Howdoyoushop

sounds good Op!

Your health and well being is just as much important as your child’s!!

Can you please come to Ireland and read Harry Potter for my kids? They say I’m taking too long ( so tired I only do about four pages a night). Dh wants to read them the next one and asked the other week was I not nearly there and now every night ‘can we not do a few more pages?’ Enjoying the story but my eyes start shutting fairly quickly!!

I’d be asleep now if I read 5 Julia donaldsons at bedtime. However My sons loved, owl babies, what the ladybird heard, monkey puzzle, gruffalo and gruffalos child, snail and the whale, so many. I had 4 so I’d have been there all night long reading 5 each, I loved reading to my boys, I miss it now tbh. Instead of reading say 5 have a routine time wise so you aren’t there still reading at silly o clock. We’ve time for x books then we can save others for tomorrow. Or you’ll get through a lot of books.

We did re read the favourites though. It’s a nice thing to do with your children. My son (14) still loves the faraway tree and some Roald Dahl we used to read, he’s got them on audible and listens at bedtime it’s a comfort I think. It’s a lovely memory having 2 or 4 little boys all washed and ready for bed with their stories, them adding the bits they remember and laughing at funny bits, reading stories their big brothers loved (owl babies was my eldest favourite book when he was small, thank you for making me remember those days (eldest is 23 now)

We’re still in the days of 730 bedtime, might have to rethink when he’s going to bed later!

It Could also get tricky when the baby chooses books, I can do her books very quickly but when she’s three and he’s six I could be there hours so will have to rethink then!

@Shopper727 ds goes through phases. All last summer he was obsessed with the tiger who came to tea, the snail and the whale and a story about a penguin who can’t swim. (And a book about a pregnant mum which is no longer relevant!) Then it was room on the broom for ages … at the moment it’s superworm and a Jill Murphy series.

We have a strict 1 book rule. Not because I don't enjoy it - and there are no limits during the day - but I normally have to go and make dinner/go and do some work and because I don't want to slide down a slippery slope of it taking longer and longer.

I'm a massive Julia Donaldson fan but bloody Charlie Cook gets on my nerves.
I love all the other usual JD's and Tyrannosaurus Drip is a good one for Dino fans. We love Paddington too. Roald Dahl has been more 5 plus for me.

Aw I forgot about the tiger who comes to tea that book is so old, I loved it as a child too. We had a story about solo a penguin who got lost, funny what you remember when you look back,Enjoy it op, the time flies in enjoy your stories and bedtime cuddles 🥰

I’m not a massive fan of Charlie Cook but ds loves it … bizarre. I also find Snail and the Whale a bit tedious.

Tyrannosaurus Drip was a favourite for ages but has fallen by the wayside a bit.

My mother taught my sister and me to read before we started school in pure self defense; she claimed she couldn't stand to read "The Three Little Kittens who Lost Their Mittens" out aloud one more time.

My 20yo cleaned out their room yesterday and found their favourite childhood book, we sat and read it, I did the voices, it was lovely for us both, keep reading as many books as you both want.

Keep doing it as long as you both love it.

I'm a teacher and the saddest advert at the moment is the McDonalds one which says 1 in 5 children do not own a book. As a life long reader I want to weep for them.

You can still read lots without it having to be at bedtime! We’ve 6/7 stories today I think, stuff like Dr Zeuss, Julia Donaldson and DS’s all time favourites The Hungry Caterpillar and Supertato. But only 2 of those at bedtime. I have 6YO who wants to be read chapter books after I’m finished with her brother and if I did 5 stories for him then 5 chapters for her it’d be hours spent on bedtime that quite frankly my sanity can’t take 🤣 (that’ll be you in a couple of years OP). And yes DH does do his share but when one of us is out for the evening, typically once a week each, we like an efficient bedtime routine that can easily be done on your own!

I know but finding time in the day is tricky. We do a lot which I like and works for us, but does mean opportunities for sitting and reading are few and far between. Although we do sometimes visit the library and sneak some in that way.

The only way it might be a problem is when your baby is up a bit and wants her turn for 5 books and you have to read the gruffalo and the tiger who came to tea and Percy the park keeper ever night for like the 7th year running then do bedtime 2 and read Roald Dahl and and Horrid Henry and Diary of a Wimpy Kid etc... bedtime can last a LONG time!

This is a good point 😂

AmiablePedant. My mum used to read that one too.

I think that if you have the time, bedtime stories are one of the best ways of helping a child to read and expand their vocabulary.

In our house it was usually DHs job, he loved it (and as I was mostly a sahm I liked the peace and quiet downstairs while it happened).

A friend of mine is in a trilingual family so they did three books every night, one in each language.

Yup exactly this!! And with 3ish year age gap the eldest doesn’t want ‘baby books’ and the youngest can’t follow and messes around during the ‘chapter books’ so you want to read to them separately, plus it’s nice to give individual attention at the end of the day. So that’s why I set that boundary of bedtime = 2 books pretty early on so I didn’t have to then cut it back and have them upset that the time was going to their sibling, or that mummy was just over it and wanted to read her own book with a glass of wine 🤣
Honestly though OP, whatever works for you!

I read at least 3 to my DS every night, sometimes 4, sometimes 5. We both love it.

Dd has just turned 4 and we read 2 a night, 1 long one, 1 short one. And that's enough. Too many and she gets over stimulated. Plus the older they get the longer the books bet! We did read about 4 a night until she was about 2 but they were shorter.

Books she loves are the superato, anything bluey, Mr men and little miss, there's a bear in my book.

Yes YABU

I'm going to track you down and report you to Social Services.

If you have the time and it's not problematic, then it's not a problem?

If you feel you are laying ground for unreasonable expectations in the future, make it a time limit thing, not number of books.

Okay, we will read for xx minutes.

We used to do 3 JD or similar. It was about 20mins a night. For what it's worth, DC is an extremely competent reader but hates it. They do still love us reading a bedtime story to them..so it's hardly a negative habit!

I think you answered your own question by saying you both enjoy it. The rest is largely irrelevant if it works for you.

My kids cling to anything prescriptive like "5 books a night", so it would be a nightmare for us if they chose a longer book or we didn't have enough time - sometimes we read loads and it takes an hour, sometimes we read one and it takes 5 minutes. Very dependent on how tired they are, what time it is and what kind of evening we've had. The most challenging thing we find is keeping them all engaged as we like to do bedtime stories with them together (they are 3, 4 and 6).

As long as he doesn't ask for War and Peace.

DD is almost two.

We don't have a set routine, but typically my husband reads one with her after her bath, then I read at least one (sometimes more depending on how tired she is) with her.

Then she goes into her cot and I turn most the lights off and then read her one or two chapters of a chapter book (which she presumably doesn't understand tbh), as she drifts off.

If she's messing around at bedtime, she doesn't get the chapter book, but does get the read together stories.

I love reading with / to her though. It's my favourite part of the day. And I do believe you cannot read with children too much.