Obviously we all know the benefits of reading to our children but I was quite pleased to read this
books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2267552,00.html#article_continue
We do loads of this with ds (3.5 yrs old) and have done since he was about 2 years old. It all started by accident when he was crying inconsolably about something once time and in desperation to distract him I started telling him everything we had done that day. Just reciting all the things that had happened starting with getting up, dressed and breakfast and including any incidents (good or otherwise) that had happened.
He was spellbound and stopped crying instantly and from then on for about 6 months he demanded 'the story of his day' just before bed instead of a book.
As time went on we started telling other stories and dh currently has an ongoing tale of prince Valiant going who does rather a lot of fighting monsters and dragons. We also do shows sometimes before bedtime that involve torches as spotlights and lots of stuffed animals as characters.
I have to admit dh is better at the stories than I am but although I do find it difficult I try to some up with some as ds seems to love them so much.
In fact he will often lie down in bed with us for up to an hour as long as we tell him stories. I quite often use a 'problem' we are having for the basis of them. So say for example ds is doing a lot of hitting, I tell a story about a little boy called ds's name who hits a lot of children and I come up with possible reasons why this might be happening and the consequenses of it, all in a story format with a basic narrative and plot.
Ds is now beginning to join in and tells his own simple versions.
Does anyone else do this or are we just bonkers?