Reading with my Children

I have answered either this exact prompt or something like it in the last year, so I have decided to explore a different angle to the subject.

I read to my children throughout their childhood into their teens. Given the 7 year gap between our oldest and youngest, this meant 20 years of bedtime stories. They are some of the happiest memories of my life. The closeness and shared enjoyment has given us lasting connections to certain books.

I remember when our second son was about three or four years old he became obsessed with The Snowman by Raymond Briggs and watched it on a loop at all times of the year, not just at Christmas. I managed to find the Ladybird book version of the wordless original which contained the narrative of the story. This helped him to understand certain parts of the story better and to appreciate the cartoon more deeply.

A set of books which became firm favourites with all of our children were the Frog and Toad books by Arnold Lobel. We had the full collection of the beautiful, funny, emotional and profound stories and many a time they had me laughing out loud or becoming quietly reflective. If you have never read them, they are simply sublime and recommended even if you don’t have children for their quiet, timeless wisdom.

When I started reading longer form books to the children, I came across The Sleepover Club, a set of books set in Leicestershire featuring five girls, which was transferred to Australia when it became a TV series, that ran to 54 books, every single one of which I tracked down in charity shops or online. The Christmas story, Merry Christmas Sleepover Club, is one I read by myself every year because it carries such precious memories of Christmas Past.

As a parent, grandparent or family friend you may well be reading to children and you may well be asked to read the same story again and again. I hope you will because those repeated readings will give you a closeness and a joy that cannot be replicated in any other form.