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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Do you still do bedtime stories with your kids after the age of 8??!!

45 replies

Bedgers · 15/09/2015 13:53

Just read a new survey that says parents should continue to read to kids and not give up once they can read for themselves. Does anyone continue to read to their kids after the age of 8? Feeling like a very guilty mum as I've got really bad about reading to kids especially once third child came along. Another survey says too much computer time reduces a child's grades by 2 levels - eek mine oldest DS's isn't exactly bright, not sure he could drop two levels!

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lynniep · 15/09/2015 14:01

I don't read to my 8 year old any more. We do insist he reads just before bedtime every night (And sit with him reading ourselves to ensure it happens) He also insists I make up a bedtime story for him every night, which frankly I find tedious and quite hard work (have you ever tried to make up an entirely new story every single night?!) but he likes it, so if he's done his own reading then I tell him his story.

EyeoftheStorm · 15/09/2015 14:04

Just started 'The Maze Runner' with DS1 who started secondary school at the beginning of the month. We like similar books and he likes to be read to. It's 20 mins just me and him before he goes to sleep.

I enjoy it though otherwise I wouldn't do it.

Preminstreltension · 15/09/2015 14:04

I do read to my DD (nearly 9) and we won't be stopping soon. She's a real bookworm but she still loves me to read to her so I use that time to read her slightly more old fashioned or complicated books that she might not have the patience to read herself. I don't make up stories though - that's too hard (I have no imagination!)

TeenAndTween · 15/09/2015 14:08

DD2 is very nearly 11 and we still read to her around 4 nights per week. It works well as a way of getting her into harder books as she gets through plots faster with us reading some chapters.

We stopped reading with DD1 around 8 or 9 and that was too early in retrospect.

BettyTurpinsHotpot · 15/09/2015 14:08

Yes.

You could read together at other times of day/ at the weekend if it suits better. We read most if we are away on holiday- choosing the books is all part of the preparations!

You could get them to read to you too, maybe newspaper/ web articles while you are doing st else.

Drop the guilt though.

BettyTurpinsHotpot · 15/09/2015 14:10

I enjoy it too so that's why I do it.

I can't make up decent stories although true life family anecdotes can come in handy.

angelcake20 · 15/09/2015 14:12

I still read to dd (nearly 11) most evenings. Our primary explicitly asks parents to at every welcome meeting. She still enjoys it, it models good reading out loud for her, she can enjoy books that she might find a bit wordy but most of all it provides an opportunity to discuss books, vocabulary, etc, which is extremely useful. Feel a bit guilty that I don't anymore with 12 year old DS.

BarbarianMum · 15/09/2015 14:14

Yes, I read to my nearly 10 year old. It gives me a chance to introduce him to books he wouldn't otherwise try (ie anything that isn't Skullduggery Pleasant) and we chat about stuff he might otherwise have picked up on (why child/teen protagonists always have parents who are dead, absent or strangely inattentive was a recent one). It's also just a very nice way to end his day and I intend to keep going til he turfs me out by force.

starlight2007 · 15/09/2015 14:25

My 8 year old DS... We quite often have books where we read a chapter each.. He gets overwhelmed by long books despite been a good reader

Seeline · 15/09/2015 14:25

I kept it up until they started secondary, when time/homework etc began to make it difficult. Both DCs and DH and I enjoyed it - lovely way to finish off the day.
DD only started secondary a couple of weeks ago, and she seems a bit more organised with homework than her brother, and loves being read to, so I can see that I may still be able to keep up the tradition on some nights

redskybynight · 15/09/2015 14:31

Yes, DS (11) much prefers to have me read to him! DD (9) tends to insist on reading to me. WE don't do it every day due to conflicts with other activities but at least a couple of times a week. Both children enjoying doing something 1-1, we all enjoy the books and we quite often have spin off chats from what we've read.

BathshebaDarkstone · 15/09/2015 14:34

DF read to me until I was 13. DD wanted me to stop last year when she was 7, we now play a guessing game instead.

MirandaWest · 15/09/2015 14:36

I read to DS (11 and just started year 7) and DD (v nearly 10) most evenings when they're here. I like the time with just one of them and me and seeing as DS doesn't read much at all I also like knowing he's taking part in some reading activity,

Sgtmajormummy · 15/09/2015 14:55

Absolutely yes!
It's the best part of the day for me and DD (9) to lie down on the double bed, talk about the day, have a cuddle and then read the amazing books that are available for her. DS (17) "leaves his door open" because some of the stories are new to him too.

They're bilingual, so there is the language input argument, but mostly it's because I enjoy it. I do the voices and really make it into a performance. We can go on for more than an hour if it's exciting enough.

So this summer we read the five Prydain books (highly recommended for girls and boys too young for The Hobbit) on Kindle and she read the first four HP books in her second language to herself (we'd read them aloud in English and the fifth is planned for the Christmas holidays).

I stopped with The Amber Spyglass for DH (see above!) at the age of 11. We'll see for DD but as long as she wants it, I'm happy to oblige.

fuzzywuzzy · 15/09/2015 14:57

Yes, she's 10 and asks me to read to her at bedtime, so I do. My eldest 12.5 asks too so I do... It's the only way to get them to go to bed and stay there.

Devonicity · 15/09/2015 14:58

No, because my 7yo reads over my shoulder, corrects me and then complains I'm going too slowly! For some reason, she doesn't do that with DH (apparently he does better voices, so she prefers his reading) so she gets a chapter (if it's not too long) of whatever she's reading to herself read by him once or twice a week.

I do read to my 4yo each night - the deal is one story as standard, but if she reads to me then I will do two stories.

Geraniumred · 15/09/2015 15:52

Either myself or dh will read to my 11 year old dd every evening. My dh is fantastic at reading out loud and I have been known to sit and listen too. I'm not so good, but it is my favourite part of the day. DD will often read on after we have finished.

spiderlight · 15/09/2015 15:57

I do - I love it. DS is 8 1/2 and we have a lovely 45 minutes or so at bedtime - first we both cwtch up together on my bed and read our own books, then he reads a few pages aloud to me (not every night any more but a few times a week), and finally he gets into his own bed and I read him a chapter of something else before lights out. He's currently reading the last Tom Gates himself and I'm reading Eva Ibbotson's 'One Dog and his Boy' to him and loving it. No plans to stop bedtime stories for a long time!

RandomSocks · 15/09/2015 16:04

I read to DS almost every night until he was about 12. I think I must have been quite good at reading aloud, as DH and DD would also listen in whenever they could.

katienana · 15/09/2015 16:05

I hope not, I can't remember being read to at that age. I was (still am) mad on books and it was more of an issue stopping me reading so I would actually sleep. My brother was not a fan of reading though so I suspect he was still being read to at that age.

firefly78 · 15/09/2015 16:11

my almoat 8 year old still wants to be read too.

fuzzpig · 15/09/2015 16:16

Yes absolutely. I admit I'm not great at doing it every night ATM (I'm not well and we've fallen out of a proper bedtime ritual) but I enjoy it when I can manage. She reads to me pretty much every day, from an easier book, as part of our home ed routine.

When DD was in year 1 at school she became very reluctant to read herself - bless her, she was worried that if she learnt to read we wouldn't read to her anymore! Once I convinced her otherwise she was fine.

I like that we can read her much more challenging books than she could read on her own - she's at the stage where she could technically read anything you put in front of her, but she certainly wouldn't always understand it without talking to us. So this way she can share stories that she wouldn't be able to access for a few years otherwise.

My parents didn't usually read to me at all - I was a very early reader so just left to it - but I have lovely memories of going into bed with mum and reading to each other sometimes even when I was a young teen I think.

godsavethequeeeen · 15/09/2015 16:20

Yes. I'm a working lp and we still fit in a story every night I don't do housework. It's the only one to one time each dc will get with me. 15 mins each.

Me and ds have got 4 harry potter books to get through yet.

G1veMeStrength · 15/09/2015 16:21

We stopped at around 7 -ish as we just got out of the habit and they were going to a lot of clubs etc, but then restarted again and its great, really enjoy it.

AliMonkey · 15/09/2015 16:55

OP just to make you feel better given all the responses are "yes", we don't (or very rarely). DCs are 8 and 10 and love reading but over last year have lost any interest in being read to regularly. (For DS age 8 this has directly coincided with him becoming a real bookworm.) They both read to themselves every night (and often at other times too). Only thing they are sometimes happy to do is have poems read to them. Now they are back at school I am trying to get them to read to me at least once a week and sometimes taking it in turns to read a couple of pages helps but they would much rather just read to themselves.

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