Story Time

When I was little I loved story time and it didn’t matter what time of day it was.  Reading is something that I have always found to be an important aspect of life in general and, in my humble opinion, its never too early to start.

Unfortunately, to my dismay we packed up all of my children’s books that me and my sister collected when we were younger and gave them away.  This also happened at a time when I was unsure of when children would be entering into my future, so the thought didn’t really cross my mind to keep them.  Now I really wish I had, we had books from Dr. Seuss, Robert Munsch and Mercier Mayor, just to name a few. 

I started reading to my daughter when she was about two (2) months old.  I found a couple of books with some nice big and bright pictures to start and it would keep her attention for a little bit.  Now two (2) months later, she will sit through the reading (well for the most part if she’s not having an off day), gaze at the pictures and try to grab at the book – yes she is trying to put it in her mouth but its all part of the learning experience right!?

My favourite time to read to her is when she’s starting to get a little fussy and wanting a nap or is ready for bed at night.  We’ll sit in the rocking chair and while I rock and read to h she’ll fuss a little bit until she find a comfortable position to sit in!  Once she finds that comfort zone she’ll sit there and start dozing off while “reading” and still trying to grab at the book.  The books that I prefer to put in front of her is those books with the hard covers and similar pages, she’ll grab at them, “turn” the page, and so on… no worries on her ripping the pages. 

Some of our favourites and some that I have found to add back to the collection from my childhood days:

Love You Forever by Robert Munsch has to be one of my all time favourites loved it as a child growing up and now brings me to tears when I read it to my daughter.  Its a touching story on the circle of life from a newborn and new mother to that newborn all grown up with his own newborn to care for.  oving and touching story and one that I hope my daughter will cherish and carry it forward to her children in the future!

 Dr. Seuss has written a lot of fun classics and a lot of them with a lot of meaning.  But most of all the books are full of fun and none sense words from a great make believe world.  Great way to get the kids into their imagination!

Oh, The Thinks You Can Think by Dr. Seuss  This is a great book with a great message! If you can think it up you can do it.  Its like my hubby once told me "Plan your work and work your plan" good strong words to think up whatever you can and if you want to make something happen with a little work it'll happen!

 ABC is a fun and great book to introduce a child to their ABC's its fun and great read for both parents and child!

I found this book not too long ago, its full of all of the stories/poems from the Mother Goose series most I remember but some I don't maybe they came about later after I got out of these poems.  This is just another Classic that seems to be carrying on through to the newer generations.

 

One book from my childhood that wasn't very popular but me and my sister did enjoy it and now my daughter seems to like it (the pictures seems to catch her attention), is Rabbit's New Rug by Judy Delton.  This book is nice because Rabbit gets a new rug but won't let anyone near it in fear of ruinning it, he comes to learn that his friendship is more important than from keeping the rug from getting soiled.  The rug can be cleaned and replaced but friends cannot.  Its a great lesson to children and full of nice colorful pictures for them to follow along.

These are just a few that I wanted to share with you and I will add more as they come up or as I collect some more!  I do hope to continue to add to her collection and I do feel reading is a very important asset to have and is also a nice enjoyable hobby for some “me-time” as I like to call it!  What are some of your favourite reads with your children? Do you try to share your favourite books from your childhood?  Happy reading!