Are there ever any evenings when you don't read to your children at bedtime?

[emkana]

That's it really.

I think we should only not read to them when it's very very late and they need to go to bed quick.
Dh would make exceptions more often if I let him.

I have to admit I hardly ever read to ds

I started off with good intentions as a new mum and e=ven tried reading to him ad a very little baby - (just for something to do really). Well a few evenings of him absolutely screaming every time I tried reading to him soon stopped that

Every now and again I'd try the reading thing but it is only very recently (18 months old) in the last couple of months that he will actually sit still for more than 2 minutes to listen. He always wanted to pull and play with the book and I couldn't actually read it to him. This was OK with me but he also got bored after 5 mins max.

Now he will sometimes let me read to him for about 5-10 minutes but oftren he just isn't interested. I assume as he gets older his attention span will increase. However bedtime does not consistently involve the reading of a book yet.

Always always read to them because its how they calm down and by the time stories are finnished, they are more or less asleep anyway.

I never ever, ever, read at bed time, it has never been part of the routine. We have loads of books during the days though so I don't feel guilty about that. The thing is that the bedtime routine is so fixed and hardly ever varies that the whole bath/pyjamas/milk thing is the wind down for her. A book would just disrupt this.

Some nights I don't read to DS1 (7) if we're really late and he'll just read to himself, but DS2 (4) usually has a story even then. DS1 and I usually read alternate pages or sections of the current book he's reading. We don't have a bedtime story on Saturday nights because that is Dr. Who night, and that is a treat instead of a story!

dd gets a story usually every night, the only time she doesn't is if she's really tired, sometimes, while i'm feeding ds, she falls asleep. i usually settle him first so dd and i can have a bit of time together on our own and a cuddle. ds is too young for stories, he just tries to eat the book.

Not always

Sometimes they also plead can they play with their toy furry unicorns instead of being read to, which is frankly INSULTING. I am quite good at reading aloud, too.

7 yr old ds doesn't want stories any more.

4 r old ds has them sometimes (but usu. copies big brother)

Yes loads of evenings. we are still at the picture book stage and quite often dd goes to bed and I TELL her stories instead. I think story TELLing is very important and underused in this age of books and is very different to the interaction with reading a picture book. TBH reading books is something I prefer to during the day or in the early evening.

Oh yes, those new inventions, books...

always read to the dds before bed
they get one together - toddler type for dd2 -
she goes off to bed and then dd1 and I have 2 or 3 together. love it
I only don't read if others have the honour if they are visiting and she asks them to!

thought she was ready for chapter books like Charlotte's Web so tried a few days ago, but not really interested - jsut wanted to junp ahead to the pages with pictures! so not quite yet - she's 4.5

A couple of months ago I thought DS(age 8) was going to drop the story at bedtime, but not a bit of it. dw does occasional childrens book reviews, so DS gets a chapter or a whole book from mum, then a bath, then a chapter of a different book from dad, then reads to herself. I wonder why it takes so long to get her to bed?