Since one of our family goals this year is to read more and watch TV less, I’ve been thinking a lot about my own experiences with reading as a child. I was definitely blessed with the example my parents set which encouraged me to love books.
At the risk of sounding Little House on the Prairie-ish, there was a period in my childhood while building our house when we didn’t have electricity. After dinner when the sun was down my family spent a lot of those evenings gathered in the living room around a couple of kerosene lanterns. My brothers played legos, my sisters and I did a crafty project or snuggled in blankets, and my mom read aloud until bedtime–Indian in the Cupboard, Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings.
These days our bedtime stories don’t include kerosene lamps, but they often include snuggles and blankets, and are one of my favorite times of day (and I think theirs too!). I admit, there are times I’m so tired I just want to skip reading and send the kids to bed, but most nights I’m glad we took the time to read together. It’s a good way to end the day before brushing teeth and saying prayers.
(And sometimes the promise of an extra book is just the bribe they need to speed up bath or pajama time!)
I’ll bet they would LOVE it if your bedtime stories DID include kerosene lamps…or a battery operated lantern…or even just a flashlight. My kids loved the nights we pretended the power was out and set up the tent in the livingroom, ate s’mores (thank you microwave), and read stories by flashlight.
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Pam @ Keeping Life Creative Reply:
January 27th, 2011 at 5:14 pm
@Chelle, Ooooh, I think we are going to do this for family night next week! Thanks for the idea!
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Luckily my kids love to read just as much as I do.We read before bed too but some nights I’m so tired and am planning on only reading a few books but my kids have their stack of books ready for me.I love that they want to read and want to keep them interested for life in reading so I go ahead and read their selections.With four boys in the home and each of them picking out books,the books sure do pile up!
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