Why The Bed Time Story Is One of The Best Times of the Day
I love reading, so it is inevitable that I should love to read to my children too. When my son was born I couldn’t wait until he was old enough to sit on my lap so that we could read a story together. We read every night without fail. It is very, very rare for us not to have story and that is usually because we have been out for the day and I have put him to sleep elsewhere.
Earlier in the year there was a news story that 1 in 3 parents no longer read to their children before bedtime. This is of a sample of a 1000 parents, and a lot of this seems to be down to the stresses of modern day life – home late from work, daily commute etc.
This makes me so honestly sad, because the bed time story is one of the special times of the day for us. It’s a time of relaxation, cuddling and bonding. I know the the work/life juggle can be an intense time, but surely parents can spare 10 minutes for a story?
Here are ten reasons why I love to read with my children:
- It’s great for bonding and of course cuddles.
- It encourages a love of reading.
- It makes children’s imaginations bloom and opens them up to amazing new worlds.
- It’s relaxing and is a great part of their bedtime routine.
- It’s fun and often the reason for many giggles in our household.
- You can try different things with it like silly voices and puppets.
- My children love it and it can be used as a reward for good behaviour – for example for being so good today you can have two stories at bedtime.
- It can be used to educate children about issues they are facing in their lives. There are great books on potty training, becoming a sibling and when we had problems with my son running off when out and about, I bought a book to make him understand how dangerous this could be and it really did help.
- It’s nostalgic. I love sharing with my children stories that I loved as a little girl. I cannot wait until they are old enough for Roald Dahl and The Worst Witch. I will enjoy reading them all over again and seeing the adventures through their eyes.
- Children’s books aren’t just fun for children. While there are some stories I actually am not a fan of – I’m looking at you We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, there are some that are funny and lovely and I enjoy reading them and of course looking at the beautiful illustrations that we don’t get in adult books.
What about you, do you love to read to your children?
I totally agree with you but will
Put my hands up to say I’m one of those parents who doesn’t read to my son every night. His bedtime routine is awful and we struggle to get him to bed. It’s tiring and stressful. He will get a story if he goes to bed without crying, which recently has been more often. I strongly believe a strict bedtime routine (including a story) is key to a good nights sleep, I just wish my toddler understood that! X
Hopefully it is just a phase Alex and things will improve. My son went through a tricky patch when we moved from cot to bed and then you can have your lovely reading time back x
I must say I’m shocked that 1 in 3 no longer read to their kids. We read 6/7 nights. She loves storytime. Sometimes I’m bunged with things to do but I’ll always make time.
Love the blog header btw
Yes me too I will admit some nights if things have been a bit crazy we tend to opt for a shorter books, but I always make time.
I can’t believe that many people don’t read to their children, story time is our favourite. My daughter would be livid if I ever tried to skip that part of bedtime!! xxx
I know it’s quite a sad statistic isn’t it? My son would be most unimpressed if we didn’t have a story too
I’m really surprised at that statistic. Reading to children is so important, not only or the feeling of closeness and the routine, but to develop a love of reading early on in their lives. I love your list of things you like about the bedtime story.
Debbie
Thanks Debbie 🙂 yes I am surprised by it too, there are some many reasons to read to them at bedtime
If I ever have children, I think this is one thing I will look forward too. I am a big reader, always have been and I think it so important for children to not only be able to read, but to want to read x
I completely agree I actually think it’s an important thing for adults to do too 🙂
We love books in this house too and read at least 6 a day to my toddler. I can’t imagine not reading to him. He learns so much and it’s lovely chill out time together too
I completely agree Linda. I just love the cuddling and reading time 🙂
When my children were young it was my favourite time of day too, I read to mine as soon as they were happy to sit and listen, and a story was always part of bedtime routine. Now I have grandchildren, and love to read with them too – it is lovely that sometimes we can go through seven or eight books at a time – even, occasionally, the same story six times! But the best organised mummies can’t always do that, so it is a treat mostly reserved for grannies. ???? And now and then I get to do the bedtime story too, which really is the best one of all ????????????
Yes I think being able to sit there and read lots of books is indeed a grannies privilege 🙂 but I think that statistic is a sad one and probably demonstrative of how under pressure some parents are 🙁
We have a bedtime story every single night – and my older son and daughter read a story to Pickle too. Current favourites are Peppa Pig Recycling and Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere! Kaz x
Oh we don’t have any Peppa books, but my daughter has started to get quite into her, so they would probably go down quite well I should look into some 🙂
I love reading bedtime stories with Miss M. Even Miss C who is 10 will sit with us while i am reading. It’s ‘our time’. It’s also really good phonics time too! 🙂
It’s a lovely time of day, I can also see why older children would want to sit through them too actually. I hope to be able to read some older stories with mine like Harry Potter and Roald Dahl when they get older.
I love reading to T, that statistic about parents not reading to their children makes me so sad, they’re missing out on so much. Like you say, it’s 10 minutes out of your day. The bit about silly voices made me smile. I like to practice my (terrible) Scottish accent when I’m reading to T, it gives me a little giggle anyway!
Ha ha I am trying to create a vision of you and your terrible Scottish voice now 🙂
Hayden absolutely LOVES bedtime stories. I am usually ridiculously tired when I put him to bed but i can tell how much he adores the story and me staying with him in his bed.
I hate it now if I can’t put him to bed with a story and my OH gets to do it lol
Just running out of book.
Charlotte x
Yes we do tend to take the bedtime story in turns in our house too as we both enjoy doing it 🙂
Children’s books are so much fun to read and the illustrations are always fantastic, why would some parents not just want the excuse to look at them? I loved story time when I was a child, I made my mum carry on our tradition of a Christmas book on Christmas Eve until I was about 13!
Oh I hope my children want a bedtime story for quite a few years and definitely on Christmas eve 🙂