Do bedtime stories still work?

[JayGardener]

is it just in movies or do kids actually love bedtime stories? If yes, what kind?

Bedtime stories are definitely a thing in real life for lots of families, mine included. It’s a nice way to wind down and have cuddles. My middle child is a teenager and has SEN and I still read to him (he can read himself) each night and it’s a non combative way of getting him to talk about his day because he has me all to himself and I’m focused only on him. I also get to read stuff to him that I loved as a kid (Johnny and the dead for example).

I expressed disbelief at the wide-eyed faux naïveté of ‘oh, I was meant to read to them?’ I’m comfortable occupying whatever ‘ground’ that places me on.

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Of course it's not too late. 🙂 When I was that age my favourite author was Diana Wynne Jones, I used to read them before bed every night. I still love her books now. Howls moving castle is a good one to start with.

Around 10-11, we started using audio books to help with novels such as the Harry Potter series. The bedtime reading fizzled at the start of secondary school, largely because we reached the point of mine/ DCs' bedtimes converging.

I read for pleasure and take a book to a couple of the DCs' activities as an anchor point and am then more likely to read for the week.

My 12yo was given a picture book on Christmas Eve. It's our tradition, and I managed to find one to make him laugh as it was a bit of an in-joke.
He likes Cressida Cowell of How to Train a Dragon and she has a good range of easy fantasy stories.

My two are both dyslexic so find reading hard work, but they like stories and that close, quiet bonding time of reading/ listening to a book together. They also have the benefits of vocabulary, general knowledge and imagination that tends to accompany being readers even though they don't pick up books for pleasure very often.

My 10yo DS still loves a bedtime story.

6yo twins have never liked bedtime stories. They don’t wind down at bedtime and can’t stay still long enough.

Well, DH has never read to DD - he hates reading aloud and struggled at school so if both parents were like that and books weren't so important then I can absolutely see this happening. I am sure his sister never read to her kids. I loved it though and still miss it but DD always has her head in a book so it's definitely paid off.

I'd 100% go for Harry Potter at those ages. Modern enough for kids who aren't used to reading not to struggle with it, and got a whole generation of kids reading, especially boys.

Are yours boys or girls?

My DD, 28 suggested that I read to her on Christmas Eve. I’m very happy to do that, we watched a film instead but I will bring it up again. My mother read me into books when I was fully able to read. I loved it.

They don’t put them to sleep as such but they do love them. Mine are 8 and 3. 3yo likes Julia Donaldson books and finds it hilarious if you change the name of a character in the book to their name. 8yo will read to them self or to me as well as being read to. Perhaps take them to choose a book each that they are interested in.

Both my kids love being read to, even though eldest is almost 9 and both can read well themselves. We've always read to them, since they were tiny babies.

Look on The Reader Teacher website for age appropriate books lists.

I’m amazed you’ve never read bedtime stories to your children! Have you read to them at all or just not at bedtime?

It’s really very good for children in numerous ways to have this. It’s also absolutely lovely for parents. The thing I miss most about my DCs childhoods is the bedtime snuggles and stories with them smelling all lovely after their bath. DH and I would sometimes take turns or sometimes all four of us snuggled up in one bed. I miss it SO much.

Yes they do but I also believe that it helps to try and replace video with audio channels where children storytelling are streamed e.g. on Spotify

My dd adored being read to by her dad up until about 13.5. It was their “ special time”.
why not join your local library and take them? Get them to choose. Make it a regular outing. Well done for having a go.

Yabu. Of course they do.

Mine are 7 and nearly 12 and we still read them a few chapters every night! DH reads to one and me the other, then the next night we swap. It does mean we only get half the story but the DC like filling the other parent in on what happened the night before.

After we've finished reading they both read a couple of chapters of their own books before going to sleep. I don't know if it helps them wind down really but it's just what we've always done and we're all happy with it for the time being. Reading is a big thing in our house (both DC hyperlexic).

Definitely not too late — we started reading chapter books aloud when mine were around those ages and it quickly became the best part of the evening. At 8 and 12 I'd skip picture books and go for something you can read a chapter of a night, so there's a 'what happens next' hook to come back to. Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz are great shouts since you already love them. Let them take turns choosing too — even the 12-year-old might surprise you once it feels like a shared routine rather than a 'bedtime story for little kids' thing. We do about 15–20 minutes with the lights low and phones put away, and honestly I enjoy it as much as they do now.

DS is 18 months and we've done bedtime stories since he was born. He cuddles in wearing his sleep sack, turns the pages himself, lifts the flaps and points out the characters and animals, and begs us for another book.

I have very fond memories of my dad reading us bedtime stories well into our teenage years. Last thing before we went up to bed, sat downstairs in our pj's eating supper - crumpet or teacake or toast and a hot chocolate. He would be just as into the books as we were, never took much to get him to read an extra chapter. Swallows and Amazons, The Edgeworld Chronicles, and Artemis Fowl were all favourites.

I still read to my 12.5 year old 😁. He loves it, even though he is perfectly capable of reading to himself (and does).
I think all children should have the opportunity to listen to stories being told by someone experienced in reading (ie an adult) as it helps them build vocabulary and story structure.
As a teacher, you can tell which children experience storytelling at home. They are usually much more advanced with their own writing. Even those who struggle to actually write, often have the ideas and skill to create a story themselves verbally.

Even those who struggle to actually write, often have the ideas and skill to create a story themselves verbally.

This.

And the vocabulary to do it. And they'll sometimes tell you they read/heard a word or phrase in a story and so used it in their own writing.

What are you talking about?! Of course they do?! Have you tried it?

I bloody hate that expression!

Its not just children that like listening to stories being read...all ages do

I realise this thread is old, but I still read to my 8 and 10 year olds. I've done it since they were months old. We're currently reading the Hunger Games 😄