Reading light for 2 year old. Is this nuts?

[Thingiebob]

My 2.4 year old loves her books. She can read her alphabet and knows the sounds of letters, can read a few words so seems to be at the very beginning stages of learning to read.

Before she goes to sleep at night she has a number of bedtime stories read to her and generally kicks off and tries to prolong story time when I tell her it's time to go to sleep. Over the last few nights about ten minutes after 'lights out' I've found her sitting behind her bedroom door and using the light from the hallway to look through her books. I leave her door ajar slightly as her nightlight isn't very strong. After a while she gets up and puts herself back into bed.

It's quite sweet as she obviously thinks I don't know despite her feet poking out from around the door and her 'reading aloud' babbling! I remember doing something similar when I was a child, although older than my DD and I used to get in quite a bit of trouble from my parents because of it.

My main concern is that it is straining her eyesight so I wondered about perhaps getting some kind of safe bedside lamp/reading light that would be suitable for a little one to use. After I put her main light out I could pop it on in case she wanted to flick through her books.

Is this nuts for someone so young? Will it confuse the whole 'time to sleep' messages of turning off the light? Will it encourage her to stay awake instead of sleeping? Both me and DH are undecided and wondered if anyone else had done anything similar. Maybe some recommendations of reading lights?

Or should this be strongly discouraged as it messes up bedtimes. Then there is the worry of should she be encouraged to learn to read before starting school as I have read and heard a lot of divided opinion on this one.

Is this a v bad idea?

I wouldn't. We have all that with DS and he's 10.
Reading by the light of a tiny pen torch til all hours.

I'd just keep reinforcing the idea that bedtime is for sleeping. At 2.4 the bedtime routine is most important.

You could be making a rod for your own back otherwise.

Ds is a bit like that. We left a bedside light on and he 'reads' for a while and then sleeps. Actually around 3 he wanted the overhead light on all night, and so we leave it on on the understanding he has to stay in bed.

Works fine for us at 3.9 still - when he begs for another story I tell him to read it himself!

I don't see anything wrong with a 'reading in bed' time before actual sleeping time, but I would get into the habit of limiting it yourselves, rather than leaving it up to her, otherwise when your dd is older and reading fluently you will have her wanting to stay awake to finish her book every night.

I did the same thing for many years (well into my teens). I'd read by the dim light of a hallway nightlight, and nothing could stop me. My mother caught me once, and turned off that light source, so I had to switch to the even dimmer light of my (then newfangled) clock-radio. At 41 I still don't need glasses, if that's the main concern.
However, I do sometimes wonder if a massive love of books/reading has ever actually helped me in real life...

I did the same thing. Reading by the hallway light and so on. I was ALWAYS sleep deprived and to this day I am not very good at sleeping without reading first.

Maybe it's not such a good idea then.

Or perhaps limiting it. So I could leave her for five minutes or so with the light on then go in and turn it off?

Oh that's so cute! (Helpful, I know.)

Actually I'm rubbish at falling asleep too. Never thought about that possible link...maybe better to discourage too much excitement (albeit bookish) before bedtime?

I don't see the harm so long as you put the light out by about 8pm.

DD1 has refused to go to bed before then her entire life.

I'm strongly of the opinion tired toddlers sleep. Toddlers sent too bed to early fight to stay awake by any means possible, and stay awake far longer.

Hmm maybe we've done the wrong thing but I got my (then 2 and a half) year old an IKEA light that she can do herself. I worried about all the safety aspects and although I'm not keen on the look of the IKEA lights we now have one that is firmly attached to the wall, that she can't take off or get at the bulb etc. She sometimes leaves it on all night and sometimes turns it off...

I'm sure I was told by an optician that reading in bad light did sod all to your sight but 'Just made it difficult to read'. Having said that, the phrase sounds familiar; like from a film, and so could be bollocks.

Have no idea on the rest; I'm very impressed more than anything as I have a nearly 2.3yo myself! He memorises odd passages in books but I'm sure has no ability to recognise words.

I think I agree with the others re. allowing but limiting to a time. I'm like you but can drop off fairly easily after just a 5-min reading therapy session. If I don't get it I get riled and am unable to sleep for a while! Stupid really; it is almost a routine must have for me now...

Mine have all read in bed from about that age, then learnt to switch the light off and go to sleep at the end of reading the book. It works very well. I wish my dd2 (8yo) was as good now about switching it off as she was then.

Our main criteria was an easy to operate switch, although dd2's light has a cover over the bulb as she loves to fiddle with anything so it reduced the risk.

I've no experience of this, but I just want to say I think it's fantastic she's so in to her books. My DD loves her books too, she's 14mo so not quite there yet, but if it was me i'd get her a torch specifically for toddlers or something similar that she could use herself, so she could sit in bed with her book instead. I also think that if a child is tired, they'll sleep, and if they're not then you can't force them. Maybe it's just her way of winding down before bed, and because it's reading I don't think it should be discouraged.

We have the Peppa Pig torch/night light (cone shaped one) which DD uses to 'read' her books when she goes to bed, about 8ish. I hear her repeating the story I've just read to her.
I usually pop in later and find her asleep curled around a pile of books. She's 2.3.

DD2 has done this from around the same age. I just leave her bedside light on and let her 'read' after bedtime stories for 30-45 minutes. Then go up and turn her light out. Sometimes she falls asleep mid-book but she will let me turn her light off without protest if she's still awake. Once light is out it stays out though, so no more reading until she wakes in the morning.