Read Out Loud

One thing I always did as my children were growing up was read out loud to them.  I have always had friends who had kids who were so involved in sports and other activities, while mine didn't really love the sports.  Hmmmm, could be because my husband and I were not really into sports that much!  Take note parents, your children tend to love what you love.

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Anyways, I did read out loud to them every night before bed for many years.  It started out as reading the children's books, and as they grew a bit, we graduated to chapter books, and read things like Harry Potter, Septimus Heap, Ink Heart, and all kinds of good ones.  Often it was really hard to stop reading, to put them to bed, as we would all be so intensely focused on what was happening.  Good times.  Even the older kids loved to gather around when I read to them.

Now as they are pretty much out of me reading to them, they have developed that love of reading all on their own.  Two of my boys wouldn't read in school.  I was always worried about them, but low and behold, by grade eight or nine, they almost overnight, started to read and love books.  In fact my youngest son took a grade nine reading comprehension test and scored at a second year university level!  I was pretty impressed.  If reading isn't important to you, I guarantee it won't be important to them.  If they don't see you do it, why would they?

All because I love to read, my husband loves to read, and now my kids love to read. 

Now I have no body left to read to, so I read to my husband.  I tell you, if you want to bond with your hubby a little bit more, find some genre of book you are both interested in and read it together.  One of our favorite ways to pass the time when we are traveling is for me to read out loud to him.  We have also spent many nights with me reading and him just listening.  It beats the heck out of zoning out watching television ALL of the time!  I get so tired of tv in our home.  I can't hardly stand to watch it anymore.  What a time waster, or so I think!  But that is just my opinion! 

I bought a couple of books by Jim Trelease about reading aloud to your children.  You can download a .  I loved reading his books, and I highly recommend them to anyone who has children - or a husband - that need some lovin' and readin' too.  Here is another quick pdf to download about the do's when reading aloud.  Take a few minutes to read them and learn something new!  And one more, the don'ts of reading aloud to your children or family.  Then seriously consider ordering his books.  You won't regret it.  I love them. 
quick free pdf about why it is important here from him

Now if there isn't any of this that rings true to you, or you really don't like to do it, think of this one...... studies have shown that reading out loud can actually help prevent Alzheimer's!  Who doesn't want that.  If you don't have anyone to read to, how about video recording yourself reading a child's book and post it on you tube for someone to listen to.  I have a good friend, whose grandchildren live in Australia and she is in Canada.  She videos herself reading children's stories and posts it on you tube so they can have Grandma reading stories to them.  How sweet is that?  I love it!

Whoever you can read aloud to, do it!  There are great lists of good read aloud books out there for every age and every genre, just do a google search for them, and you will find lots of options.  If you are really not sure where to start, just leave me a message and I can offer some suggestions.  I would also love to hear what you have read aloud, what you loved and how it worked for you!  Just leave me a comment!