To worry I’ve destroyed my child’s love of reading

[1jan2020]

My toddler (aged 2.5) used to love reading books together, but ever since he’s started watching TV he’s just not that interested, to the point where he’ll push away books and ask for TV or other toys. He’s engaged in plenty of other activities, like going to the park, art and crafts, Duplo, playdough, playing with his other toys like trains, cars, water table and diggers - but not reading. I’m concerned I’ve destroyed his love of books by introducing screens - I hate to say it but I can see why watching a screen would be far more interesting/stimulating than a book. What can I do?

My dd is 2.3 and she definitely still finds the Gruffalo etc too long, but we still read them and I just cut them a bit shorter when she gets impatient. Her favourites at the moment are

The Elephant and the Bad Baby
We're going on a bear hunt
Lucy and Tom's Christmas
Lucy & Tom go to the seaside
Don't Forget Matilda
Everybunny Dance

picture books are great, particularly if they have to make up their own story

The Large Family

My b/g twins are 2.8 years and LOVE "Disney Little Golden Books" - Snow White, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Pinocchio, etc. They ask me to read these books multiple times per day.

They don't watch TV (I told them our one is broken), so in the future when they watch the films, they'll know the stories. I occasionally show them short clips from the films on YouTube.

Mine will be 3 in February and she has very wide ranging interests.

She likes Julia Donaldson but she also likes Baby Faces Peekaboo on one end of the scale and Bread and Jam for Frances on the other.

The hairy maclary books were an early favorite and she still likes them now.

Mog books (mog the forgetful cat etc)

Harry and the bucketful of dinosaurs

Ours loves books and also watches a fair bit of tv as it helps me get ready in the mornings.

Gruffalo, Hungry Caterpillar and Snowy Day are on Amazon Prime. It was interesting for our two year old to see a book animated.

We also have Dear Zoo and took it to the theatre when that came to town. We followed along in the book as it transpired on stage.

Here's currently watching a YouTube montage of train footage and pointing out all the colours.

You don't have to give up tv just try to make it relevant to his books and interests.

I'd avoid really high strung things though. Ours gets Peppa Pig, not fast moving shows for bigger kids. We do Prime and not prime time so it's not bright and flashy or have commercials.

Lots of the books people have mentioned are great. I always try to find books secondhand that have things I know my child likes in them. My youngest (now 3) absolutely loves frogs and puffins so any book with those in always grab his attention. At 2.5 the Acorn Wood books were a big hit, also Chris Haughton books like Oh No George. But he also kept liking what you might think of as baby books so don’t worry about that. And they love repetition, so once they find a book they like it will often stick around. But try not to worry if your child isn’t too keen. Definitely remove the ‘tv or books’ choice, but my middle child wasn’t that into books until around 2.5 even though we always read at bedtime. My other two wanted to read far more.

My almost 3 year old ds does love stories but he doesn't sit as long as he used to, I think they're just at a stage where they're eager to move from one thing to another. But we got him some bluey, duggee and fireman Sam books and he loves those plus gruffallo, stick man, monkey puzzle. Percy park keeper is a hit. He likes us to read a story while he eats lunch if we're home and with his supper before bed. Paddington is a firm favourite here too!

If you're worried, turn the tv off c

@GAH3

@barneymcgroo that's brilliant!!!

😂😂😂 that's great @barneymcgroo

My DD is a little bit younger than your DS but has a lot of books.

She really likes:

hungry caterpillar
where’s spot
postman bear (and any other acorn wood books)
Maisy goes to nursery (there are loads of these where she does different things, dentist one is very helpful!)
little people big dreams (board book versions)

she will sometimes let us get through these but they’re a bit longer so we don’t always finish them:

Percy park keeper
oi frog (and others in the series)
the smeds and the smoos
Little people big dreams (hard back versions)
short fairy tales (rapunzel, little red hen, princess and the pea, enormous turnip etc we were given a box with about 10 in)

some of the very simple baby books she will now “read” to herself or to her little brother eg the ones with just one picture per page

I think if you just have books available he’ll come back to them as long as the tv isn’t on all day

The works 10 for £10 deal is great for getting a selection to find out what they are into and letting them choose books at the library is fun too

@Albgo @GAH3 Aww, thanks guys... bows

No more tv, ipad or phones. He doesn’t need them.