Mums : How do you find time to read?

[yellowmoosefever]

That's the question :) I try and find time when the kids have gone to bed. When do you read? How do you fit it in? I love books and I'm on my second read in two weeks.

Well my youngest is now 7, oldest 12. Obviously it is different if you’ve got young babies! Can be hard to find a minute, especially when they’re toddlers. But I still think it’s important to do stuff you enjoy. Also play with your kids obviously - but some parents I know literally would never think of reading a book or doing their hobby or anything around the kids. I think it’s a good thing. I mean I watch enough ballet/football/karate/brownies presentations. Surely they should see me enjoying myself too!

And for something to look forward to, my oldest two are now reading a lot of books I genuinely enjoy (not that I don’t love Hairy McLairy) so sometimes we’ll actually be reading the same thing at the same time and can have great chats. My son and I did the His Dark Materials trilogy together a while ago and it was so much fun, like a very exclusive book club 😂

@shallwegoandgetthecats

I wish I could enjoy audiobooks! I can literally only enjoy an audiobook if it’s a book I’ve read 100 times. Otherwise I listen for 20 minutes then think ‘hang on, who is Eliza again? And what happened to her?’

I have to commute sometimes for studying at the moment and it would be so amazing if I could enjoy audiobooks at the same time.

I'd love to read.more but I make sure on a Sunday night I get a long bath with a g and t and my kindle. Also have a book light I clip to the bathroom cupboard so it's not too bright.
Sometimes I do this in the week too, I'm just about to go now. Also try to read every night in bed but usually end up mindlessly scrolling the iPad which annoys me that I could be reading more!

Always before bed and occasionally whilst the children are playing around me… this is quite a new development though (youngest is four) to echo what’s been said above, I thought it wasn’t a bad thing for my children to see me enjoy a book and I have clear memories of watching my parents and grandparents reading books/newspapers etc whilst I played with my toys.

@Kanaloa I'm currently struggling through an audiobook that has two different timelines which intersect. It's not going well for me.

I dodge housework

I have a 9 and 4 year old. I go to bed at 10pm and read until around 11.30pm. I also read on my dinner break at work and in the bath. It's much easier now the books are on my phone/kindle as I always have them with me rather than remembering to carry a book around.

Wouldn’t make a difference to me because I probably wouldn’t even notice 😂 I’d be two hours in and thinking ‘hang on, is this the 50s now? But I thought she had an iPhone!’

I do actually have good concentration for regular books. But it’s like if I’m reading I can concentrate, but if I’m listening I zone out.

I 'read' quite a bit on Audible - but (for me) it's not the same as reading a physical book. I don't get anything like the same enjoyment without the tactile element but it's better than nothing.

I've really struggled to read this year; I get up at 520 to exercise so can't do earlier, work f/t, then leg it home to do dinner + then DC sports which are every day of the week. Too tired by the time that finishes.

I take a 30 min lunch break & did try reading then but I don't like it. If I get into my book it's an annoying wrench to have to leave it; and I also want to get some fresh air.

I usually drive to work when I'm on-site (work from home 1 or 2 days a week) & have decided I will do one day on the train so I'll get 2 x 20 min to read then. I also am going to try really hard to get 1 hour a week away from DC, house & work, get a coffee & read for 1 hour. (Single parent).

When bf the little on to sleep. I used to try and do 10 mins before going to sleep myself but I’m just so tired at the moment.

I have made it my mission to carve out more reading time. I basically don't watch TV any more.

I listen to audio books when walking the dog, running, cleaning, prepping dinner, in the car on my own, when I can't sleep.

I read every night before bed, and in the evenings on the sofa (DH loves doing this as his time with the dog too!)

I read while the kids do their activities, especially if I have to wait around outside (covid changed a lot of stuff and I started this then). Surprising how much you read in a short swimming lesson slot for eg!

I read as a break from work/screens during the day too

Try a different kind of book. I’m the same if I listen to most fiction on audio, I just zone out and miss most of it, but I really like memoirs on audio (especially if narrated by the author)!

I try to read while my children are playing or watching TV. Sometimes I read instead of TV or in bed.

I don't read anywhere as much as I'd like and I'm lucky if I finish 10 books a year these days. I'm realising that it's better to have more than one on the go; something quite easy and readable for when the kids are around and then something a bit more cerebral I can chip away at in the background.

Audiobooks when doing housework

I used to be such a voracious reader, but have really struggled since my daughter arrived (she’s 5 now). That plus menopause has really affected my abilities to focus on a book. I used to read my kindle after I’d gone to bed, until I fell asleep and dropped the kindle on my face (so usually about 5 minutes!) but I’m determined this year to get back to getting some proper reading time in again. One thing that I’ve really enjoyed is listening to audiobooks on the drive home from nursery/school (especially memoirs rather than fiction, as PP have said - somehow they’re easier to follow). Im
going to cut down on tv and try to have a night or two where I just read rather than watch tv.

On the bus. After bed time. On my lunch break at work. 🙂

Audio books whilst I clean or go for a walk.

I have 9 and 6 year olds and work full time. I read in the bath, before bed, sometimes at lunch time and if I’m particularly into something will read any or all of the time we’re in at weekends or in the evening. I also watch tv so depends what I’m into at the time. My 9 year old would just as soon read for pleasure as watch tv and so would my DH but my 6yo doesn’t (yet) read for pleasure. I don’t spend much time ‘entertaining’ my kids ie we’ll play a game or watch a film together occasionally but the norm is that they entertain themselves at home and we do what we want - either housework or follow our own interests.

@hopelessatthinkingupusernames

Interesting… maybe a memoir of someone I find interesting would have the same effect as a book I’ve read before, so I’d be able to listen and follow it as it doesn’t have a complex or unfamiliar plot. May have to have a browse of the library app and see if there are any good ones!

I've always enjoyed audiobooks, remember borrowing tapes from the library back in the 80s. I used to listen to a lot of podcasts, but joined audible a few months ago. I spend a lot of time on my own and they're good company.

As a child I read for hours, literally hours a day. Nowadays I find I can't concentrate on them. I think sitting and reading leaves me too much with my own thoughts :( Listening to audible whilst walking, at the gym, doing housework, commuting etc. keeps me well-occupied.

I read when I brush my teeth and in cafes and on transport

I read aloud Paddington series of books at the moment with DS(7), which I am enjoying just as much as he is. Moving on to Famous Five collection next...I do have books of my own but struggle to focus on them by the time I have settled the youngest DC to bed.

Still have a pile of books on my bedside cabinet which I look forward to getting through when I feel up to it.

I read in a morning before getting up or before bed. In the bath and sometimes on an evening if tellys rubbish.

Over lunch, whole waiting for.dd to go to sleep, in evening instead of tv. In bed when j have a "lie in" on weekends. On weekends when dc are out or chilling with their ipads or whatever.

I will.choose reading over ma y other activities. Kindle is also a game changer - can have a few books on the go, immediately downlosd a new book from an author I like in a series with no wait time etc. I also ALWAYS have it with me. Standing in queue at bank... out comes my kindle. Waiting for doctors appointment.... kindle. At bus stop/on train/commuting... Kindle. Waiting for dc at their activity... Kindle . It is 5000x more user friendly than any book

Yes I love my kindle. I carry it round the house with me and pop it in my bag when I go out. It's next to me on the sofa right now as I drink my coffee just in case I get a quiet 5 mins.
Total reading game changer, and the best invention ever!