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My toddler watches TV.
Yup, I said it.
Now let’s not be crazy. I don’t let her watch TV all the time. I am very much a believer in the “Everything in Moderation” mindset. Our social media feeds are full of articles telling us that TV and screen time are bad for kids, and I definitely agree that screen time should be monitored and minimized. However, I have definitely seen a benefit to allowing my daughter some screen time with educational television shows.
Do you have a favorite place to read? The Internet is full of amazing reading nooks and dream libraries. I find myself getting lost in the pictures dreaming of spending a day there. When it comes to getting kids excited about reading, you want to ensure that they have a great area that they can call their own. While we may wish for fantastic libraries that aren’t meant to be (I realize now I will never have the library from Beauty and the Beast), there are lots of ways that you can carve out a small area in your home and make it the perfect place to read. Today’s book takes a fun look at what a perfect reading area needs.
Do your kids enjoy books that you are not a huge fan of? Is there a particular character that you can’t stand, but that your child adores? Do your kids enjoy reading on the Kindle or IPad, while you prefer they read paper books? You may think I am crazy for saying it, but I believe you should let them read what they want!
But Vicki, that’s crazy! There are things out there that I don’t want my kid reading!
I come from a very tall family. I am 5’10” and I am considered kind of short (at least according to my 6’3″ sister!). My sister and I have grown to be proud of our height, thanks to our parents. While we definitely face a few struggles (just try finding pants long enough), there are definite advantages to being tall.
My daughter is already taller than both my sister and I were at her age, so she is on track to continue the family tradition of being taller than most of her friends. While I will do my best to teach her to be proud of her height, I am definitely on the look out for great books that will help her to be confident about it. When I heard that Gill McBarnet had a story titled The Whale Who Wanted to Be Small, I knew I wanted to check it out!
I am a firm believer that learning opportunities can be found anywhere. My parents often used every day situations to teach my sister and I various lessons and skills that would be helpful to us in our lives. While driving home from places, my mother would encourage us to give her directions home. When we would go on walks, they would encourage us to point out familiar things and name them. All of these lessons helped my sister and I to become avid readers and learners. I am starting to do the same with my daughter, and she is already eager to learn from the world around her.Shopping is one of the tasks which my daughter and I do together that affords us lots of fun learning opportunities. We have been learning and reading at the grocery store since she was a few months old.
When we were younger, one of the books that my sister insisted our parents read over and over again was The Big Honey Hunt by Stan and Jan Berenstain. It 
was her favorite book, and to this day my parents can still recite some of it from memory. When I found the book at my parents house, I couldn’t wait to share it with my daughter. With summer fast approaching, it was the perfect opportunity to have some fun with bee activities!
We live in a world of Instagram and Pinterest, where “perfect” families make “perfect” crafts and have “perfect” lives. Let’s be serious. We post the good pictures on social media, but how many outtakes did it take to get that perfect shot? Reading to kids falls under this umbrella too. I have posted photos on my Instagram of my daughter and I curled up and reading together. And that totally happens! But I will not lie to you. There are definitely days where that perfect picture is NOT what happened!
No matter how old we get, it is still exciting to receive something fun in the mail. My daughter loves going to the post office, and she is over the moon when she gets a piece of mail or a new book. I love exploring new books while reading with my daughter, and when they show up in the mail, it is even better! So when Little Fun Club offered the chance to review their book box as part of their blog tour, I was very excited for us to have some new books to share.
Have you ever read a book and thought, “That character reminds me of myself!”? Did you connect with that character and feel his or her triumphs and tragedies right along with them? Seeing yourself in the characters of the books you are reading can make you more invested in the story. This is true of kids as well! Whether that character is a person, a frog or a talking toy, recognizing themselves in the book they are reading is sure to peak their interest.
This post was originally shared on SIC Mama. Check her page out for some great parenting articles!
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Reading aloud to kids is one of the best ways to encourage them to become lifelong readers. From the very beginning of life, providing kids with books and the opportunity to share them together can create a love of reading. I started reading to my daughter on her very first night home from the hospital (a tradition started by my parents). I read her a one minute fairy tale from the same book my parents read to me on my first night. She was sleeping and will have no memory of it, but it was the start of our nightly read aloud time; a tradition that she now loves at the age of 21 months.
