Such a great interview! My kids are now 17 and 21, but we read to them every night when they were little. My younger son benefitted from my reading to his older brother, as I would nurse him while doing bedtime reading for the other. My younger son started reading by himself at age 4 and is a total bookworm to this day. We can't keep him in books! His older brother also became an excellent reader, returning to his faves over and over.
Janine, we too found the benefit of reading to the older kid(s) very helpful in introducing reading to the younger kids. They were just around it from infancy. My oldest flys through books, thank goodness for the library, we can't afford his reading habit (but that goes for me, too!).
I really enjoyed the interview! On a side note, I'd love to visit your Connecticut town, but that's just my Gilmore Girls obsession! Did it have a gazebo?
I personally don’t think so but there are still a lot of other good food spots in the area. If you ever visit, let me know and I can share my favorites!
What a great interview! I really liked that you mentioned that reading isn't always an everyday experience. There is so much emphasis on reading everyday "for your child's success" that instead of being something that takes the pressure off of parenting--actually, one of the most important things we can do is the fun of reading together--we turn it into another requirement--we must read for 20 minutes each day or our child won't be successful!
Learning which stories are meaningful to my children has been such a fun part of parenting for me. I'm glad when I still get to be part of their book lives now that they are more independent readers and big kids!
Yes, the optimizing/ focusing on "success" via reading is so frustrating. My oldest is a voracious reader and they had some type of classroom contest that would require him to document his reading. His teacher had even specifically identified that he would do well because she knew he would easily fulfill the requirements. When I asked him if he wanted me to document some books he read, he told me no, that he just likes to read and didn't want to participate. He knew it would make it less fun.
I wish we could take the pressure off of everything involved with parenting! If it’s something we value I know our kids will learn that even if we don’t talk about it every single day!
Yes! We have books all over our house, they see us (adults) reading every day and they read most days. It's okay to take a break. I loved this interview for so many reasons, because we, too do not do bedtime reading. We did for many years but eventually with differing needs it just didn't fit BUT we still value reading. I think people feel like we have to do reading a certain way and it's just not true.
Y’all, love this! It’s always great for me to hear that I’m not the only one breaking the library system by maxing out both my kids’ library cards every time we go 🤣
Also, ever notice how many people are ALWAYS milling about Stars Hollow? Who made that executive decision? Is it 5:30am? Is it 2pm? Well, in this small town that means there are always at least 17 people walking briskly by the gazebo!! My Texas town isn’t even that small and the square is legit crickets nearly every hour of the day.
Oh, I max out every library card. The other day I asked if they issued library cards for toddlers and I got a smirk and was told I had to wait a few more years 😂
Well, to be fair to your small Texas town, I bet it's really hot most of the year! Lot easier to laze about in public spaces when it's not too hot. Although it really doesn't explain all the people out and about in the winter 🥶
My kids got a library card when they were sooooo little!! Our library has a 1000 books before kindergarten program and track it on their own little cards. I love it. Each card (mine included) has a 20 book limit. If I got more I’d need to bring a shopping cart 🤣
Our kids get library cards through the school in kindergarten. So we have maximum reach, too. I used to bring a box (like a decorative, living room kind) to the library with handles and everyone at the library would compliment me on how smart it was...well it just broke after a couple of years of hauling so many heavy books. It was probably not designed for that. I am in the market for a new one.
Such a great interview! My kids are now 17 and 21, but we read to them every night when they were little. My younger son benefitted from my reading to his older brother, as I would nurse him while doing bedtime reading for the other. My younger son started reading by himself at age 4 and is a total bookworm to this day. We can't keep him in books! His older brother also became an excellent reader, returning to his faves over and over.
Janine, we too found the benefit of reading to the older kid(s) very helpful in introducing reading to the younger kids. They were just around it from infancy. My oldest flys through books, thank goodness for the library, we can't afford his reading habit (but that goes for me, too!).
Love this! I love hearing about others’ reading rituals and routines. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much for having me, Kathryn! It’s pretty clear I can talk endlessly about all the books 📚
Me, too, so it works out well :) Thank you so much for your lovely words!
I really enjoyed the interview! On a side note, I'd love to visit your Connecticut town, but that's just my Gilmore Girls obsession! Did it have a gazebo?
It did not but it has a pretty cool bridge and Julia Roberts thought it had pizza good enough to star in a film about it 😂
Haha! I love that film! Is the pizza really that good? ;)
I personally don’t think so but there are still a lot of other good food spots in the area. If you ever visit, let me know and I can share my favorites!
I would love to!
Well, this was just delightful! Sri is such a wonderful person (and Substacker!)
She is Sarah, I agree! Thanks for reading!
You are too kind (and generous), Sarah!
What a great interview! I really liked that you mentioned that reading isn't always an everyday experience. There is so much emphasis on reading everyday "for your child's success" that instead of being something that takes the pressure off of parenting--actually, one of the most important things we can do is the fun of reading together--we turn it into another requirement--we must read for 20 minutes each day or our child won't be successful!
Learning which stories are meaningful to my children has been such a fun part of parenting for me. I'm glad when I still get to be part of their book lives now that they are more independent readers and big kids!
Yes, the optimizing/ focusing on "success" via reading is so frustrating. My oldest is a voracious reader and they had some type of classroom contest that would require him to document his reading. His teacher had even specifically identified that he would do well because she knew he would easily fulfill the requirements. When I asked him if he wanted me to document some books he read, he told me no, that he just likes to read and didn't want to participate. He knew it would make it less fun.
I wish we could take the pressure off of everything involved with parenting! If it’s something we value I know our kids will learn that even if we don’t talk about it every single day!
Yes! We have books all over our house, they see us (adults) reading every day and they read most days. It's okay to take a break. I loved this interview for so many reasons, because we, too do not do bedtime reading. We did for many years but eventually with differing needs it just didn't fit BUT we still value reading. I think people feel like we have to do reading a certain way and it's just not true.
This was wonderful and the best way to start my morning!
Thank you Shelly!
Aw thank you, Shelly!
Y’all, love this! It’s always great for me to hear that I’m not the only one breaking the library system by maxing out both my kids’ library cards every time we go 🤣
Also, ever notice how many people are ALWAYS milling about Stars Hollow? Who made that executive decision? Is it 5:30am? Is it 2pm? Well, in this small town that means there are always at least 17 people walking briskly by the gazebo!! My Texas town isn’t even that small and the square is legit crickets nearly every hour of the day.
Oh, I max out every library card. The other day I asked if they issued library cards for toddlers and I got a smirk and was told I had to wait a few more years 😂
Well, to be fair to your small Texas town, I bet it's really hot most of the year! Lot easier to laze about in public spaces when it's not too hot. Although it really doesn't explain all the people out and about in the winter 🥶
You can ask them to override the limit, you know...!
My kids got a library card when they were sooooo little!! Our library has a 1000 books before kindergarten program and track it on their own little cards. I love it. Each card (mine included) has a 20 book limit. If I got more I’d need to bring a shopping cart 🤣
Our kids get library cards through the school in kindergarten. So we have maximum reach, too. I used to bring a box (like a decorative, living room kind) to the library with handles and everyone at the library would compliment me on how smart it was...well it just broke after a couple of years of hauling so many heavy books. It was probably not designed for that. I am in the market for a new one.
Oh I’m going to propose this to our library system!
They’ve been kind enough to do it many times but my greed is endless 😜