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Original poster

Reading for pleasure...

35 replies

RainbowWalker · 05/10/2005 12:49

As is in the news today - big topic about OFSTED report about not enough children reading for pleasure.

Do your children read for pleasure?
Do you read to them, do they read to you?
Do your children see you reading novels?

Is it just a question of time management or do your children like to read other non-fiction things like comics/magazines?

OP posts:
hunkerpumpkin · 05/10/2005 12:51

I know this is aimed at older children, but I don't got none, so:

Yes (well, looks at pictures - he's 18mo!)

Yes/he points and waits for me to say words - he's fascinated by "print" and often points to letters.

Yes, I'm always reading, so is DH.

We have loads of books and believe reading's really important - DS seems to have picked up on this and wants story after story all the time

ThomBat · 05/10/2005 12:52

My DD is 4 at Xmas and has Down's syndrome. She doesn't actually read but she looks through books all the time and loves them.
We often read to her and every evening when i pick her up she is covered in books with her nana.
She always gets at least 1 bedtime story and she's starting to ask for particular books and repeats the last word of each line.
Every time we go out I have a book in my bag for her.

WigWamBam · 05/10/2005 12:52

My dd is only just learning to read, but yes, we all read for pleasure in this house. Both of us read to her, she reads to us, she sees us both reading novels, magazines, newspapers and so on, and she also has children's magazines that she can have read to her or look at herself. Our house is full of books, there's not a single room that doesn't have at least one bookcase in it (apart from the kitchen and the toilet).

ThomBat · 05/10/2005 12:52

oh and she picks up newspapers and pretends to read them!

auntymandy · 05/10/2005 12:52

My kids all read..or look at books youngest just one! for pleasure. Books are a big part of our house.
I read sometimes to them but not on a regular basis.
I never have a min to read. K3eep meaning to but fall asleep!!

myturn · 05/10/2005 12:53

Yes all 4 of mine read for pleasure.

Yes I read to them - currently reading The Chronicles of Narnia

dd1 and dd2 do not read to me anymore (getting a bit old at 11 and 12), although dd3 does. dd4 is just learning to read.

I read all the time so the girls do see me and I imagine this has had a bearing on them reading so much.

They do read comics, although these are Aquilla (fabululous mag) and Horrible Histories rather than the girly type mags.

littlemisspiggy · 05/10/2005 13:01

I have been reading to DS (3) since he was about 10 months. He loves it has lots of books and mags. I have 'caught' him 'reading'to himself by recounting a story out loud by following the pictures.

Original poster
RainbowWalker · 05/10/2005 13:04

Wigwambam - the loo is the best place to read surely????

OP posts:
Original poster
RainbowWalker · 05/10/2005 13:08

myturn: The Chronicles of Narnia was definitely what got me into reading when I was young... brilliant choice...well done!

OP posts:
LadyMarinaofSarfLondon · 05/10/2005 13:11

I think we are very lucky.
Dh and I both work with books (OK, we are librarians not publishers or authors ) so ds and dd both see us reading and buying books for pleasure constantly. Ds is reading avidly for pleasure at six and we don't really mind if it is the Beano, Roald Dahl or Captain Underpants so long as he leaves the copy of Private Eye or the Saul Bellow and John Updike alone .
We read to him , and he to us, nightly, and dd too. She is 26 months and unsurprisingly likes books, "reads" them to her dollies and apparently often chooses to look at books at nursery over some other activity. (Should point out she is also a messy, stroppy little hoyden!)
It's easy for us, so I fully support all the Sure Start and other initiatives designed to take books into homes where access to reading material is difficult.
I think children have smashing choices of fun reading these days, much more than when I was a child.

Original poster
RainbowWalker · 05/10/2005 13:19

Good point Marina - on the subject of Sure Start, if anyone doesn't know about the Bookstart initiative (free books for babies!) here's some useful info...
www.surestart.gov.uk/aboutsurestart/parents/bookstart/

OP posts:
WigWamBam · 05/10/2005 13:22

Oh no, our loo is small and dark, not much pleasure to be had in reading in there.

There is, however, a bookshelf in our bathroom ... the bath is the best place in our house to read in peace and quiet

myturn · 05/10/2005 15:05

RainbowWalker, I read it as much for me as for them I think. Absolutely love it! (Beats Harry Potter any day)

suedonim · 05/10/2005 16:13

Two of my four children read for pleasure, they are both very well-read indeed. Another one only really reads with a purpose in mind (eg for his PhD atm) and the 9yo has just started to read more for pleasure than duty. She likes me to read to her, though. Current book is Alsion Uttley's A Traveller in Time. She likes the idea of comics/mags but actually doesn't often read them once they've been purchsed, which is a bit annoying! Mine see me reading all the time and have to pick their way through piles of books all over the house. We always have a newspaper around as well and dd often cuts bits out to take to school.

happymerryberries · 05/10/2005 16:31

yes, yes, yes, YES!

ATM only dd reads for pleasure out of my two as ds is only 5.5 and is strugling with reading. He does like to look at books and have us read to him

dd is a voracious reader. We were visiting her uncle this weekend and she finished her book (she is 8) so she then went on to read 'The Darwin Awards' Or at least she did till I spotted her and pointed out that it wasn't 'suitable'

Wednesday is reading homework day or as dd put it 'No hw day mum becuaes I always read for an hour at night anyway'

Both dh and I read every day, both to the kids and for pleasure

motherinferior · 05/10/2005 16:44

We read instead of looking after the kids

yoyo · 05/10/2005 16:58

Absolutely. We are a household of booklovers. Even DS (2.9) has his favourites. We read several newspapers daily, books, magazines, cereal boxes when desperate.. Our children find it peculiar when they visit houses where there seem to be no books lying around. Long may this last!

steppemum · 05/10/2005 17:29

Yes, we are both reading addicts, in fact poor ds has been known to drag a book out of my hand "stop reading mummy and play with me"

He has bookshelves of kids books in Dutch and English, (he knows which are which) he often asks for books during the day and always has one or two before bed. He takes in the stories and he'll ask questions/repeat things from the story for days afterwards. His current favourite is a huge Shirley Hughes anthology with lots of stories about Alfie and Annie-Rose.

The other thing he does is to take down big thick heavy books of mine (like cookbooks) and sit with them on his lap "reading" them, turning the pages in clumps until he gets to the end. Very cute to watch.

roisin · 05/10/2005 18:26

Yes, yes, and yes.
My boys read a lot - fiction, non-fiction, poetry, newspapers, anything they can get their hands on really.
The Beano is usually top of their list

Some of this is related to character and temperament, I think. But you can influence it as well. Both my boys have an hour of "lights on" in bed time when they may read if they want to ... however, there is no alternative! They are not allowed to play with toys at that time, or watch TV, or play on computers or anything else ... It sounds really draconian, but it isn't. They accept it and never ask to do anything else, it's just a routine they've grown up with, and it has helped them develop a love of books.

DS1 (8) has just written me his Christmas wishlist.
Of the 11 items on the list two are books - specific, named books he was recently ogling in Ottakars

donnie · 05/10/2005 18:30

yes, yes, yes.
the time management thing is a bit of a red herring...everyone can make time to read even if it is only for 20 mins a day.
Our house is also stuffed with books. I have a clear out every so often and it's like losing a limb!

Monstersmum · 05/10/2005 21:19

God yes - I LOVE reading - feel a bit like a smoker must if they have no fags when I haven't got a book to read - currently very happy as have about 15 unread books just waiting to be read!!!!

Need to clear out those I have read as they are taking over the house.

DS (4) loves books too - I've read to him since he was tiny.

foxinsocks · 05/10/2005 21:26

we all love reading in this house - the books have taken over and every room has a massive bookcase and there are still 20 large boxes of books in the loft that we haven't unpacked. We have far too many books but dh refuses to give even one away.

Dd adores reading for pleasure - she reads books and comics - ds is not quite there yet but he certainly loves books. Dh and I read all the time.

Marina, I think you would be dd's idol - she would love to work in a library!

singersgirl · 05/10/2005 22:40

Yes, I read (all the time, often guiltily) for pleasure and both DSs do, though I wish DS1 (7) would read more novels for pleasure rather than "The Rough Guide to James Bond", "The Essential Bond" and "Dr Who: Monsters and Villains". "The Beano" is also a hit here!
DS2 (4) is just really getting into reading and I keep finding him poring over his brother's books as well as his brother's "Beano"!

singersgirl · 05/10/2005 22:41

Oh, and DH, who has a degree in English, doesn't really read fiction any more, apart from the odd good crime stuff (in his opinion) but reads loads of current affairs and biographies.

aloha · 05/10/2005 22:41

My four year old ds has just started reading for pleasure. Right now half the pleasure is in the puzzling out. Sees me reading a lot - mostly the paper when I should be interacting with him