Babies Can't Read

Try as he might, Kieran cannot read.  He eats his books.  He licks them.  He even throws them.  But, as of today, he's still not reading them.  What is a concerned parent to do?  

No, I haven't totally lost my mind.  I do not expect my nine month old baby to be able to read.  I have pretty high expectations, but I'm not completely insane.  I just love this picture of my son wearing a onesie that says 'I can't read' while he's holding a book. 

Books are very big at our house.  We go to the library regularly, but we also love to buy books for the kids.  I love it when people give them books for gifts.  As far as I'm concerned, you just can't have to many good ones.  That being said, we will be donating our baby books as soon as Kieran has outgrown them.  We will keep the really special ones for him, but the rest will go to other good homes.  My sister is expecting a baby boy in the fall, so she gets first dibs.  

Reading books to my boys is something I do many times a day.  When in doubt, READ.  Use your library so that you don't get bored.  (I find that I get bored faster than Soren does.  I really don't want to read anything over and over and over again.)  Keep books in every room, so that the kids see them as an option all the time.  Both of my boys have well-stocked bookshelves in their rooms.  There are books in the living room and books in the playroom.  So, basically, there are books in all the rooms we 'live' in.  This way, I'm reminded to pick one up and we end up reading a lot more than we would if we only kept books in one place.  

I'm sure we all agree that reading to children is a good thing to do.  Not only is it fun, but they learn to associate the written word with what's happening on the pages at a very young age.  When they start to learn their letters, they will begin pointing them out as you read.  When they start learning letter sounds, they will want to know how to spell things and how to pronounce the words on the page.  At this point, reading is just around the corner.  Soren is really close right now.  At the rate he's going, he'll be reading when he's four.  That seems about right to me.  My mom taught me to read and I could read independently when I was four.     Is this early?  It doesn't matter.  We should teach our children how to do things when THEY are ready to learn, not when a school dictates that they are ready.

I loved reading immediately.  The world opened up and I realized I could learn about anything and lose myself in all kinds of magical stories.  Reading is the skill that will set you free, or keep you trapped in ignorance.  I want my children to be FREE and to love learning.  Soren already does.  He's very excited about new books and listens to as many as I will read.  He even notices if I 'accidentally' skip a page in some of the longer books.  So, even when I'm tired and it's been a long day, I read.  My husband does bedtime with Soren almost every night and he reads two or three books each night.  The books are getting longer as Soren gets older, so it takes more time.  That's a good thing.  It's definitely time well spent.