should I be reading to ds and if so how on earth do I get him to sit still long enough?

[HeadFairy]

I've always wanted to do bedtime stories with ds, and I know reading to him is really important, but he's such a physical child sitting down to read is really hard, he pulls the book away, wriggles around and tries to run off. Even in the evening after his bath when really he should be tired he's a live wire (luckily turning the light off is like turning a switch off on him and he always goes to sleep really well). Should I just perservere? Has anyone else tamed their child to settle for a bed time story?

How old is he?

Would he sit better if he had something to do- depending on his age try books with flaps, textures, holes to poke fingers through, sound buttons etc

How old is he?

If he's a toddler or baby then sit down before bed and read outloud with lots of funny voices and modulating your tone.

Then sit back and wait for him to come to you .

Might take a few days but little ones are inherently nosy!

He's 18 months old...

I could try in the bath, he loves his bath time and he's always in there at least 20 mins. Do you use waterproof books or just accept they'll get wet? (he's a right little splasher )

Good suggestions ummadam... thanks I will try that. He loves books and will flip through them all the time, but reading a story start to finish is impossible. He always wants to move on too quickly, he has the attention span of a flea.

Have books around too. I have lots in the lounge, with characters that he recognised from the TV, and then he would start to bring them to me to look at them.

I wouldn't worry about it - if he's wriggly and uninterested then it just gets stressful for you and not fun at all. I remember thinking this with dd2 and dd3 (such wriggly creatures!) at the same age but they are complete book worms now and reading bedtime books to them is lovely - they are 4.6 and 2.9.

Neither of my boys were really into their bedtime stories until they were about one. They just wanted to eat the book. And they were usually too tired at this stage anyway. I let them play with the books and tried to minimise destruction. It wasn't long before they became addicted to bedtime stories. When they were little they both went through phases of running round. I used to close the door with them inside and carry on reading!

Headfairy - don't worry about it. Same thing with our DS1 + DS2. When they were younger they would never sit still long enough or shut up long enough to listen. However, click the light off and they are both asleep 10 minutes later.

Now they are older (9 and 7) we got them head torches so they can read in the morning in bed. Keeps them there until 7.30 at the weekends.

However, we have always had a good bedtime routine and we always make it a loving and calming time of day. Though I find story book reading never worked - just sitting on their beds for a while talking to them about their day or maybe telling them something about my childhood or even my Dad's childhood working on a farm with horses in the 1950s is still something they enjoy. Occasionaly we might talk about somthing interesting they saw on TV like 'the Apollo moon landings'. We even had a chat about what it was like for a first time parent and to suddenly have a baby to look after. They both thought it very funny and shocking that parents don't have to have lessons first!

Even talked about how they could be good friends with girls a few days ago. Its definitley a good time to have those kinds of chats I find. I enjoy them too.

wotulookinat... we do usually have books lying around so hopefully he'll get more interested in what they're actually saying rather than just flicking through the pictures at a rampant pace! He doesn't really watch tv, despite it being on quite often (usually News24 - I don't blame him for not being interested ) so he hasn't really developed an interest in certain characters, but he does love trains and cars so most of his books have got trains and cars in.

ramonaquimby - It's good to know that extreme wrigglyness doesn't rule out a future bookworm!

ABetadad, that sounds lovely. I do chat with (at?) him at bedtime. We talk about the lovely things he's seen and done that day, feeding the ducks in the park (duck! duck!) and seeing his friends (Lileeeeeee!) so hopefully that can develop in to a general bedtime story/chat routine.

It is probably the age. I started reading to mine before they could wriggle-before they could understand really!
He will come to like them. I regularly read to infant classes, sometimes I have had 60 children for a story. I have never had a DC who hasn't liked a story.
I would visit the library every week.

wow, 60 children for story time. I'm impressed! I'm hoping as his comprehension improves he'll start to get more in to the story side of it rather than looking at the pictures which don't hold his attention that long.

I really wouldn't worry. My DD 11 would never sit still to listen to a book and never had a bedtime story, although we did get lots of tapes from the library.
She taught herself to read and is huge bookworm getting through 2 books a day sometimes.

My little boy is 2 and a half and only just sits still now for a story - but not all the time.

Couldn't you just tell him a story from memory, or make it up as you go along whilst playing with him - use his toys as the characters. GS used to love this and before long became very interested in stories and therefore books.

We started this when he was in the bath and it became a sort of ritual, to the point that he is now 6 and insists on bringing a book into the bathroom when I am in the bath and reading to me.

DS is like this and he's a similar age. I really want him to love books but it's impossible to get him to sit still. He does look at and play with books but story time is hard!
Anyway, one thing I've found that works is to make up the story rather than read it. Makes it shorter and you can point out things in the pictures that you know will interest them. I think it's something to do with the tone of voice too - if I do "story-telling voice" he switches off, but if I do "ooh look, a cat! What's he doing?" kind of voice, it keeps him more interested. Getting him to point to things on the page works well too.

That's a good idea hensmum... we do look at books together but not really in any story reading sense, more a flip through the pictures. I can hold his interest for a bit if I say where's the cat, where's the dog and he points and woofs, but story wise he hasn't got the patience.

The trick is to choose the right book-if I am reading to a large number I choose one that I know will grab them from the first page. Lots of expression and silly voices help!

instead of reading - just point to the pictures and name them, do animal noises etc

you could try life the flap books, my 19 mo ds adores eg wheres spot, dear zoo.

the baby catalogue by the ahlbergs is lovely - lots of pictures to point at and talk about, rather than a story.

As you say, he does not yet have the comprehension to understand all of what you say so luvaduck's idea of just talking about the pictures is a very good one. Keep your sentences short and simple and always make sure what you are talking about is what is happening in the picture and what he is looking at. This way, the language he is hearing will be related to what he is thinking about. Maybe to begin with, just say one sentence per page. That way you can get through a book at his pace and he still gets to listen to you.

As he becomes more will to sit for longer, you can spend more time talking about each picture.

Similarly, sit with him when he is playing and just talk about what he is doing (i.e. 'the here and now'). Don't bombard him with langauge just short, simple sentences about what he is doing ''the car is driving. Brum, brum'' ''Bye bye car'' ''the trains going over the bridge''.

Talking with your ds in this way should help to hold his attention and develop his concentration (as well as his language). Afterall, we all switch off when hearing something really complicated too (Desperate remembers Physics lessons at school).

First child would sit for hours from very early; DC2 & 3 wouldn't sit still for longer than 30 seconds until at least 2. DC4 never gets read to - but loves books because he sees everyone else reading. Persist because at some point he will start paying attention.

Thanks for all the advice everyone, I'm going to brush up on my silly accents I will persist because I do really want him to love books.