Does your child get a book/story before bed?

[Helenemjay]

What do you read them?

ds is 2.3 and gets a story every night. Curently we are oing through his Mr Men/Little Miss books. How old is your child and what books do you read with them in the day?

I have 2 dds - we read one story together and then dd2 goes off to bed ( she's 18 months) then dd1 and I read 2 more stories. I love this time before she goes to bed.
What do I read? For both of them its usually a board book with few words each page.
For dd1 it varies - sometimes it's nonfiction type stuff ( she's really into cavemen and dinosaurs at the minute) or well, all sorts of stuff. She's nearly 5.

lucyjones - I can't stand reading the Little Miss stories - hats off to you!

My DSs are almost 3 and 1.5 and go to bed at the same time in the same room. I read them 2 stories every night - 1 of DS1's choice and the other is the same one I read evry night - Guess how much I love you (it is very schmaltzy but they love it!) The first story could be anything from collections of traditional fairy tales to postman pat or thomas the tank engine books - whatever he fancies. After the 2 stories I sing them a couple of songs and then say goodnight.

hana - I have to admit that dh does the bedtime story

yes they do

dd1 reads something to me then gets a chapter of the Famous Five
dd2 usually wants My Naughty Little Sister

then they both listen to a story tape before falling asleep

dd1 is 6 and dd2 is 3 btw

Yes, every night. Dd is 5 and likes things like The Enchanted Wood/Magic Faraway Tree, Olga da Polga, My Naughty Little Sister, Roald Dahl - although sometimes she has one of her old favourites from when she was younger - Pumpkin Soup, The Kiss That Missed, Blue Kangaroo.

DD is 3y 10m and has had a bedtime story every night since she was about 18 months. I read her anything from her shelf, she has around 25-30 books ranging from short, easy stories (Mr Men type) through to bigger Hans Christian Andersen types which take longer to get through. The length of story depends on how tired the reader is (me or DH) and how late bedtime is (9 times out of 10 she is in bed, lights off at 7pm).

dd gets to do her cbeebies magazine sticker chart and then either goes through the rest of the magazine and/or gets to read 2/3 books depending on what time it is - she has a bookcase in her room with an extensive selection of all sorts of childrens story books - she chooses which books she wants each night. She is 2 1/2 and if daddy gets home on time he does the stories while mummy has a bit of time to herself.

yes, every night

dd often reads something to us -(Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf at the moment) and then I read them (dd and ds) something.

They take turns choosing which book is read - if ds chooses it's normally a Dora book or something like Blue Kangaroo and if dd chooses it's normally Famous Five or Horrid Henry.

Yes, two. dd (2.5) chooses the ones she wants, and they vary hugely - current favourites are Scarface Claw and a French series called T'choupi.

My Naughty Little Sister - what age group is that aimed at? Love the title - and dd1 would think it v funny as she has a little (naughty at times) sister dd1 is nearly 5

I've said every night there - there are plenty of nights when I'm too knackered to read a long story but the kids always want a story no matter what - dd would probably say it's one of her favourite times of day!

Ds is 2.8yrs and picks his stories from a huge selection.Could be a book or a story from a album etc He particulalry likes the usbourne phonic readers.

DD is 6mths and am reading her a disney mixed tales book at the min..quick 5 min stories which is enough for her to fall asleep.

my naughty little sister is fantastic hana - if you have a local library, you should be able to get it in there. It's perfect for reception onwards I would say. There's also one with Bad Harry (I think called My Naughty Little Sister and Bad Harry) which is hysterical.

will look out for it then, she starts school in Sept! thanks

Ds is having a chapter of Famous Five every night if dh reads, and two shorter stories if I read. Going to start the Harry Potter books soon, as he loves the films. Have read all the Roald Dahl ones, and one of the 'Worst Witch' books. He loves that level of book (he's nearly 5).

We sarted reading to our Ellis when he was 8 months old (it might have been even earlier). My husband would lay down on a daybed with him while he drank his milk and read classic childrens books.

The first book he read to him was the unabridged version of peter pan (this took several months and the language is pretty hard going but he got through it), then the just so stories, Alice in Wonderland and other classics with no pictures.

We were amazed that our little one just lay there and listened and still (now 19 months old) continues to do so for anything up to 30mins every night. It prooves that babies don't need pictures to hold their interest if you start reading to them early enough.

He has the most amazing grasp on words and can label pretty much everything in the house at 19 months! I'm convinced that this is down to listening to complicated text every night.

It is so rewarding to have that down time at the end of the day and it is a very bonding experience for my husband.

Sometimes DS gets a book read to him or he likes to read it himself (lift the flap etc - he is only 15 months). Other nights I have a little dance round the room with him to some low key nursery rhymes or Burt Bacharach. Sometimes he watches the baby Einstein DVD with the lions and giraffes.

All seem to help him calm down and got to sleep.

We alternate reading to our two children.

DS is 5 and when it is DH's night he is getting BFG and when it is my night we are reading Richard Scarry's Big World book. Previously we have done Charlie and the Choc Factory, Charlie and the GG Elevator, James and the Giant Peach, several Horrid Henrys, some Flat Stanleys, the complete set of Thomas TTE etc.

DD is just 2. Tonight DH read her 3 Patch books. Others we read are Peace At Last, Whatever Next, Guess How Much I love you, Dear Zoo, Hairy McLairy, Hungry Caterpillar, Busy Spider, That's not my Dolly/puppy/fairy and so on. DD is allowed 3 books a night.

DS loves Peace at last too, and Guess how much I love you. current fave though is "Diggers are good at dig, dig, digging"... He says the words with us, and won't accept any other book... he has 2 books each night - just bought "My mummy has a house in her tummy" to try and introduce the idea of the new sibling he's getting in about 9 weeks... We avoid things like Bear Hunt at night, as he started having nightmares about bears and lions!

We read to him everynight, one with the light on, one from memory with the light turned off, and generally after that one he falls asleep.

He is 3yrs old, and most of his book do have a proper argument now, although from time to tiem he enjoys looking at the pictures of the ones with few words. At the moment he has a crush with Sesame Street books, a neighbour gave him a few of them and since then I'm in a race to find more... difficult to find though, don't think they do them anymore and Elmo is a bit too easy for him. So... if any one has a collection, let me know, I would pay gold for them!

Yes - and she's only 8 months! But it REALLY works - calms her right down and signals bedtime. And she loves it.

DS is 2.6 and we have stories every night and lots of reading throughout the day.

Loves the Usborne phonics at the mo and the Farmyard Tales and as many Mr Men books as I can handle

DH works shifts so he oftens does the bed time routine