Tommy and I were reading books the other night and he dug deep and chose one we haven't read for a while. He is in to reading every dang word in every book lately. He insists that I tell him "what's that say?" for the front middle and back of every book in the house. I sortof love it.
Anyway, the front of this particular book was labeled "for 6 to twelve months" and I choked while I looked over at Little John who was standing dutifully at the side of his crib while we read. Children who chew on books and don't listen to the words aren't invited to sit on my lap during story time. What kind of person tries to read a book to a kid younger than a year? I thought to myself. Then immediately the flashbacks began.
I'm a little bit stuck on labels - I like my kids to do things at the common time and I like them to wear 3 month clothes when they're 3 months.
When Tommy was just a few months old and starting to sit up in my lap I searched high and low for a book specifically labeled for younger than 6 months old. What kind of person doesn't read their kid a book until they're 6 months old? I thought 3 years ago. Why are none of these labeled for my infant?
That's when I realized I don't think I've ever EVER sat John on my lap and read a book just for him.
During our next trip to the library I found books with only one or two words per page and super-duper-thick-slobber-on-me-and-i-don't-care-because-i'm-made-of-plastic pages.
When we came home Tommy dumped all the books on the sofa and picked up the first picture book for me to read to him. One with lots of word and paper pages. John crawled around on the floor and banged the chars in perfect rhythm while The Drummer Boy drummed "boom pum pum boom pum".
When we got to the John Books I pulled him up on my lap and tried to read one word per page and let him turn the pages. He'd grab a page, then grab 2, then throw it across the room and crawl after it to throw it again.
So I am left wondering, did I miss my chance to teach John to love books? Is my clear negligence the reason he prefers to eat them? Or is his preference of eating and throwing and pounding the reason I don't read to him like I did with Tommy?
Or is just like everything else, the first child got the best of everything and 2nd gets the leftover tired mom?
Poor John.
Speaking from experience: it is entirely possible that Tommy will grow up and hate books and John grow up and love books or they will both love books or they will both hate books. But if you read to them a lot now, they will learn to pay attention to what is being read to them and it will help a ton with comprehension when they begin school. My older kids talk about the books I read to them when they were younger or "do you remember when we read...you should read it to the little kids."
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