Is it bad to read lots of different books to toddler

[theotherfossilsister]

I was reading the thread by the poster who finds reading with her child difficult and something I noticed was lots of people saying children need repetition. Mil takes almost three year old tablets the library every week to get four books, and return the others. I thought this was good, but now wondering if we should stop? If he gets attached to a book we keep it for the full three week loan period and renew if there’s not a reservation, but thought it was good to try new things.

he owns all the Julia Donaldson’s but they are at the bottom of his book basket, although he frequently asks for room on the broom. He’s slightly speech delayed. Should we focus on fewer books?

I love that he has his library trip with Granny on a Thursday afternoon as it’s special for both of them and gives me some time too the he gets to come back and show me what books he’s got, but maybe I should ease up on the borrowing?

Absolutely not. The more different books you read to them, the more language they are exposed to.

You're doing exactly the right thing, do not fret! Carry on 😊

My advice is do both. Library trips are magical for children. But also children will have their favourites . There is room for repetition and new text.

If you are concerned with speech delay talk to your child about the pictures. What is happening in this picture? Do the characters look happy or sad etc. can you guess what will happen next? That kind of thing.

I have 2 adult daughters. DD1 highly intelligent and probably autistic. Now has a first class (Hons) degree in English Language and linguistics. DD2 not autistic but has global developmental delay and needed SALT. The point I am making is very opposite kids. Both delayed in learning to read and both can read well now. There is no one size fits all timeline for learning so relax

Just follow the child, whether that's mostly repetition, mostly variety, or somewhere in the middle. Neither of mine were particularly into repetition, particularly not my first. That you are reading with them is far more important than the details of what you read, so long as they enjoy and engage with it.

The more books the better. If there are some they really love, you can borrow them again and again, or buy a copy, but it’s absolutely fine and healthy to expose kids to lots of new stories as well.

We have always done about 8 books from the library keeping them for between 3 and 9 weeks.
Some books get ready daily other books only a few times. Any particular favourites we buy and find that she will have favourite books for a few weeks and then they fall out of favour.
I'd possibly increase the number of books you have out and keep some for a little bit longer say 6 to 8 books returning 4 each week some more books are kept for a couple of weeks.
Things like that's not my books were kept for less time than other books. Now she's older rotate through the topsy and tim type books quicker than stand alone stories

Be thankful you don't have to read Elmer the Elephant. Every. Single. Night.

Follow your child's lead, but generally do both, they're not mutually exclusive.

Just read what they want you to read. My now 8 year old hated being read to for a long while so we didn’t. He now reads himself every day (mainly books about Man City) and I read to him every night too. He also listens to Audible which is great.

Of course it isn’t bad for him! People have some barmy ideas on here. It sounds like he has a lovely time with his Granny at the library.

Thank you all. I think the answer is to do both, so maybe one Julia Donaldson and one new library book? He does love one library book, you can’t let an elephant ride a bus, so will renew that and take the others back. We have two we haven’t read with him yet, and library trip is tomorrow.

He likes repetition of Funny Bones, he likes saying Dark, dark.

Don’t overthink it. Just show him some books and let him choose. We do both the library and old favourites. I try to hide the really annoying ones or forget to get them out at the library. DD always gravitates towards the worst books in the library like Peppa Pig and Bluey (we like Bluey on the TV but the books are terribly written).

The OP on that thread was way overthinking it and you are too. Have some favourites at home and also bring in library books regularly.

I wasn’t overthinking it until I saw that thread!

More the merrier really. Its one way that they can develop their interests. DD6 is very into facts and science such as space, the human body and geography. She has her school scheme reading book, school library book, our books at home and what ever she chooses when we go to the library. She is very advanced and happily reads to herself at home but we do check in with her to check her comprehension. At 2 we always had to read the same book every night, it was tedious and I remember this particular word for word still now.