6 yr old and bedtime story

[peppajay]

My daughter is 6 and in year 2 and either me or my hubby still read her a bedtime story. She isnt the best reader and doesnt enjoy doing anything on her own she relishes adult interaction, but none of her classmates are read to anymore. There is a few in her class who have TV's in their room so they go to bed and watch tv and the others read to themselves in bed for half hour or so but my DD would be distraught if we left her to read: 1) she isnt the best reader and would need so much help and 2) would hate us not being involved.

When we do read to her she still likes what I call picture books like 'A squash and a squeeze' or the blue kangaroo books whereas a lot of her friends are reading Enid Blyton or Horrid Henry.

So am I babying her too much and spending too much time with her or at 6 she she be expected to read to herself. She is in yr 2 but August born so very young.

Thanks x

I read every night to my 6 year old. And have done since she was tiny. No plans to stop yet.
You are not babying her.

And then I let her have a book in bed and she reads herself for 15 mins or so.

My DS is a summer born yr2 child. He's a great reader but he still loves being read to, especially at bedtime. No plans to stop any time soon.

I can remember my dad reading to me (usually with a cup of Ovaltine!) until I was about 10. I loved it, and have very fond memories.

Carry on, it's a lovely thing to do with your daughter

6 is still very young and reading to them is still important. TV before bed is not a good idea so don't feel you have to bow to peer pressure. As a teacher I'd love it if all parents still read to their children at this age tbh.

Might be worth slowly introducing simple chapter books though. Doesn't have to be every night and picture books are still good but I'd add in chapter books occasionly. Chapter books help with more complex sentence writing, character description etc.

I still read to my 11-year-old DS sometimes. He, of course, can read very well but we enjoy the experience of reading together.

Bedtime stories aren't really anything to do with reading progress; they're more about your relationship with your daughter. So read whatever you and she enjoy, for as long as you both want to. FWIW I still like the Blue Kangaroo books but I absolutely loathed Horrid Henry and banned them from the house. Your DD might like Flat Stanley and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory -- my DS's first chapter book. They would help build up her reading stamina.

And TVs in bedrooms are terrible, terrible ideas.

Sounds fantastic to me. Keep it up. My daughters aren't going to have TV or computers in their rooms. (We don't have them in our room.)

No, you're not babying her. I still read to my six year old too, with the nine year old listening also.

Reading to children is incredibly important- keep doing it as long as she'll let you. And keep the TV out of her room- watching screens before bed is not good for sleep.

oh no you must read to her! My dd is almost 6 and I have no intention of giving up that pleasure anytime soon. I will mourn the day she doesn't want a bedtime story anymore. We are also still reading "picture" books rather than "chapter" books and many of them we've been reading for years, she finds it comforting to have familiar stories before bedtime. Carry on reading.

Neither me or my hubby ever had a tv in our room so we won't be going down that route. My kids arent big TV watchers anyway I think because we do interact alot with them ie playing board games, reading, general chitchat about this and never used a TV to babysit, and it has resulted I must admit in them unable to do very little on their own but I think in society these days children are supposed to be a lot more self suffiient at a lot younger age than in our day.

My dd is 8 and we still read a story at bedtime, I have found that a lot of the books she will follow the text and tell me if I have got something wrong, which has been great for getting her started on 'chapter books' and getting her reading independently for pleasure.

We have just started the Hobbit, although she doesn't follow this in the book as the type is a bit small - just as well, because I change a bit of the text to make it easier to understand. Tolkien would have a fit at me modernising his work!

I still read to my 6 year old. I will carry on as long as she wants me to. Ds (10) and I still read together sometimes too.

Our 6 year old still loves having a book at night. It's usually a short story like green eggs and ham, or a chapter or two of something like fantastic mr fox or even a biff,chip and kipper book as dc likes to do the activities in it as we read.

I think the reading the story, having some quiet time, get comfy for the night is very important and will do this as long as my dc want us to do it.

If you're concerned about her reading then maybe speak to her teacher and see what books he/she suggests or go to a library or bookshop and ask dd to choose some books she'd like you to read together at night with you.

Not babying at all. Hate the word. It's mothering

I read to my six year old and I on,y know one person who doesn't read to theirs and she is a fluent reader.

We still sometimes read to our 12 and 14 year olds as well as always tothe 5 year old. We get 5 year old dd to read her school book to us, then we read to her. She is into fact books at the moment.
Reading to a child is so important.
My DH has read every single Harry Potter book to dd1. She has since gone on to read them herself.

I was reading to DD every night until she turned 9 when she wanted to read to herself.

However I'd suggest that she could read the picture style books herself and you could read more complicated chapter books to her.

Why don't you find a book that she really wants to hear - we started with a few Rainbow Magic Fairy books and quickly moved on onto the Secret Seven Series and then started on some pony themed series. She appreciated our time together and we got plenty of books read and enjoyed.

Please don't stop reading to her, you'll be strengtheningthe bonds between you as well as giving her a love if books.

I read a bedtime story to my 5 year old and will carry on doing it until he asks me not to! I remember having the Hobbit read to me when I was quite a lot older than 6.

I think that if you keep reading her books she enjoys and making it a nice time for her, then she's more likely to develop a love of reading and want to become an independent reader, than if you just give up the bedtime stories because you think she should be able to read by herself, IYKWIM.

Since DS has started school, he's been asking to read to me at bedtime too so I either read a pitcture book or a chapter of something like Flat Stanley or Horrid Henry (not keen on HH myself but DS likes them and he inherited a load from an older cousin!) then DS reads me a simple book. Or if he's really tired and doesn't fancy reading much, we'll do a page each. You could maybe try something like that to build up her independent reading?

I would just say keep it up!

I read to all mine at that age - and none of them had tvs in their room when they were that young.

Our headmistress said we should read to children until the end of primary school. My dds love to be read to and i will continue as long as they like. The eldest is 8 and she reads to herself after she goes to bed too. One of the benefits of reading to children is that you can introduce them to stories that might be too challenging for them to read alone and you can discuss the story with them, ask their opinion etc, which is all beneficial.

DS in yr4 still wants to have at least two chapters a night read to him. He could read them perfectly well himself but it's more about the snuggling isn't it ?

Either DH or I read to 2DDs every night until they were in year 5/6. They were then allowed to read on ther own for about 15 mins. They told us when they wanted to stop.

It's the end of a lovely time when they don't want you to do it anymore. There's nothing like a good read and a cuddle before sleep.

My husband read to both my children until they were eleven and twelve. He would lie next to them so they could read or see the pictures, if any. After the usual picture books, he moved on to Alice in Wonderland, Narnia, Harry Potter (the whole saga, read more than once - he`s a fast reader!) and finally The Lord of the Rings. They learned to enjoy reading and never had any problems in school with writing, spelling or reading. A friend of hours reads academic history books to his 8-year old daughter.

My ds2 is the same year and August born and considered average in terms of reading.
Reading together is snuggly time. Sometimes he reads a book to me, other times I read to him and sometimes he reads to himself. The books that he reads to himself are simple picture books that I kept from his baby days or information books with lots of pictures like the Guiness book of Records where he'll try to read the photo captions like "World's Longest Tongue" or "World's Biggest Pizza" and gawp at the photos.

I still read to my 'free reading' 8 and 6 year olds and I'll carry on doing so until they don't want to snuggle up anymore

If your DD isn't a strong reader though perhaps take it in turns to read a page if she can manage it?

My 8 year old has a TV in his bedroom. I find it a strange assumption that all children with TV's in their bedrooms watch TV at bedtime. DS certainly doesn't, in fact the only time he turns it on is if he's got friends over and they want to play on the Wii!