Reading to Your Kids

I read to my daughter from the day she was born - real books as well as gadgety books. So what if she can't understand the words. So what if she won't sit still long enough to read the whole thing. The point of reading to babies is not to impart information about the contents of the book, but to hold them close and bond with them.

I read everything to my kids starting the day they came home from the hospital. Let him read it to her.

As long as he is aware that she is not likely to sit through the entire book and he is willing to let her stop when she is ready... then there is no reason he can't read it to her right now!

Let your fiance do it! First of all you can read to kids from the moment they are born. I certainly did and still do so MOST nights during the week. I also try to read to them on the weekends, too. Even if she doesn't understand, or ends up getting down, not paying attention, etc, that doesn't matter. You have to start somewhere! What a great daddy!

It is NEVER to early to read to your baby. He doesn't need to wait until she has the attention span, she'll develop the attention span as you do it. Will she sit quietly through the whole story the first time (or second or third or forth or twentyith)? Probably not. But that doesn't mean she isn't getting a huge benefit.

If she gets distracted and crawls away, so be it. She's learning about text and gaining early literacy skills.. not to mention getting some special time with her dad!

FWIW, I read to my son from the day he came home from the hospital. He's now (7) an amazing reader, and more importantly he LOVES reading!

HTH
T.

Babies love the sound of the voice and the snuggling as the story is read.
Actually it doesn't really matter WHAT you read out loud (they don't understand at this point) - you could snuggle up and read the dictionary or phone book out loud and she'll still love it.
At 6 months my son loved a book called Baby Faces - it was just a cardboard book with babies in different moods - smiling, laughing, sad, angry, sleepy, etc.
Your fiance is eager right now - let him read it to her.
Also - remember exactly HOW eager he is right now - because fairly quickly child will want to be read the same favorite story over and over and over and over - you'll have them easily memorized.
My son and I use to compromise - I'd read 2 stories - one new story and then the favorite - so we'd get a little something new in every once in awhile.

I read to my son from the day he was born. I used to read my chapter books out-loud when he was a baby. At your baby's age, I would give my son something to hold and chew on. (Some kind of teether.) Their span is different, so you have to let them take the lead, and stop when they need to stop. Reading is VERY important to their language development. There is no too early.

I started reading to them from day one. Babies like the sound of your voice, the pictures, touching the book etc. It doesn't matter if she sits and pays attention at this point.

Oh my goodness read at any age. even infants love the rhythm of speech.. They are learning everything all of the time.

Also our daughter had a librarian in elementary school that we adored. We talked about continuing to read to our child as she got older, she said parents and children should read to each other forever.. The dynamics change, but the knowledge, the practice the sharing, never goes away.

In our family we still read together and to each other, we listen to books on tape as we travel.. It is one of our favorite activities..

What are you waiting for? Get to it - a love of books is something that is learned early. Let him read to her ANYTHING. Hearing his voice and cuddling is such a treat. Plus, she will look at the pictures. Get some books with textures and glide her hand over them as you read. And say smooth or soft ot rough. Reading - it's the best way to exercise her brain!

It really doesn't matter if they have the attention span. You sit and read as long as you can. I wouldn't choose books that light up or make noises....because those aren't really books, IMHO.

When my boys were little, they LOVED Grover's "Monster at the End of the Book." OMG, cuteness.

I would definitely start now. The key is to read it in an engaging way. That usually always worked with my kids at that age. Sure she may not sit through the whole thing, but there is NOTHING that says you can't start this early.

My oldest loved to be read to, even as a baby. My youngest she could always and still does takes it or leaves it. It ends up just depending on the child.

I read to my son from the day he came from the hospital. Infants learn language by hearing it. It is extremely important.

He can start reading to her right now. How cute that he wants to read so much. Just tell him not to be surprised if she tries to take it from him and put it in her mouth, or something.

But it's never to early to start giving them an appreciation of books. And it's extremely necessary these days, because kids don't read any more. :(

of course you should let him read to her! My husband started reading books to our kids from the time they were born. I have a picture of him reading a book to my son all swaddled up when he was about a month old. We have always read to our kids. Now that my kids are 5 and 8, they want to read to me all the time, lol!

I read to my son for about an hour the day I brought him home from the hospital -- he was 3 days old. And, I never stopped. At 13 months, he started bringing me books to read to him. Today, he's a 6-year-old who reads at a 6th-grade level. He reads for about 3 hours per day -- more on weekends.

In other words, a baby is never too young for books -- ever. Don't wait for her to develop the attention span for a whole book, read to her, and it'll expand her attention span. It's also the best possible thing you can do for her language development.

Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site is wonderful, and it's so sweet that your fiance wants so much to read it to her. Please don't stop him -- only good things will come from this.

When my son was her age, he was the same way. But we still read to him, it just wasn't like you picture- all snuggled up in a rocking chair, ect. We would go in his and sit
on the floor with him. He'd listen for awhile, and then crawl or toddle off for a minute, but we'd keep reading so he could listen, and he'd come back. Now he's a little over one, and he loves storytime! He pretends to read and brings us books to read him.
Make sure when she is paying attention you point at the pictures and make a big deal out of it! Soon she will point at them too! It's an important milestone!

Good luck!

Definitely start now! And just have fun with it :)

I love that book-- so cute! Let him read the book to her while you hold her-- and give her something to hold... a board book, a toy, etc. She might not 'get' the story or even look too much at the page, but she is getting LOTS of language and great attention.

I allowed my son to have board books-- supervised (because they do tend to chew on them and can choke on the paper) as early as he could hold one of them. I read to him probably since he was old enough to be held up in my lap with one arm. (up until then, he slept most of the time, and so it was lots of narration and songs)I sang a lot to him, narrated our day when we were out ('hear the birdies?' they say 'tweet tweet'. Hear that northern flicker? "eeeyew eeyew!" he's a kind of woodpecker."..... "it's time for a diaper change. Now we take off your pants, oh you are kicking those legs so hard! Strong little legs.') -- yep, I sounded like a nitwit to everyone else, but he got a lot of labeling of his world and what was going on.

I am a lover of books, language and poetry. My son could certainly voluntarily sit through a book at around a year or so, as long as he had something else to manipulate in his hands. I don't know if it makes a difference, but we also had no tv for him at all until 1.5 years. I think the stillness of picture books allows children to do what they very naturally can do-- observe, scrutinize and ponder. Much like they do their own hands when wee tiny!

Why not try and see if she likes it? At that age, my son liked trying to turn/rip the page more than listening to a story.

why on earth would you hold back on that!
let your fiance read to the baby, for heaven's sake!
i can't honestly remember when we started. the day we brought them home, i think. i can remember both of them goggling and drooling at goodnight moon and the truck book long before they were verbal. many of their early words were 'reading' with me and vocalizing the big sounds!
who cares if she sits quietly and listens or not? if she wants to oodle around and play with things while she's being read to, let her!
just read to her. a lot.
khairete
S.

Go for it! You are months behind! Lol! Be sure and use lots of expression in your voice. Give sounds for all the animals. Ask her to find the doggie or whatever. Find rhythm and rhyme books so at some point she will finish the rhyme when you read. Don't forget the library. It was my book store. There are tons of books so nobody gets bored. Have fun!

Oh, just let him read it to her. Is it really going to hurt anything?

Babies benefit from hearing our voices, being held and cuddled and talked to. You can achieve all that by reading to them. They don't need to be understanding the words or a storyline. I used to read to my daughter all the time when she was a baby before bedtime - it was just a nice way to relax. When she started getting too grabby, and kept trying to grab the books and rip the pages and such, I just read to her with her standing in her crib and me sitting in the chair next to her. At one point I just let her flip the pages and I really couldn't "read" the words on the page, but I would point out the pictures - "And there's a blue dog in a red tree!"

They are never too young to start reading to them!

Since Day One I read to both my kids. It's good for them to at least listen even if they are not paying total attention. Also, that is a super cute book.

I started reading to my kids very early. Kids are fascinated by language and they learn by listening, so it is never too early imho. As long as Dad understands she might hop up and run around, I say it sounds like a great activity for the two of them.

READ NOW!!!!!! It is a proven fact that children that were read to right from birth are better readers and talk better. ALSO NO baby talk! How you talk is how you want a child to talk. Reading to an infant is fun and benificial and necessary!

You can ALWAYS read to your child no matter what the age!

Reading is wonderful at any age, even in utero. I spoke and read to my children in utero, and continued it through out my pregnancy and when they were born. The sound of mommy or daddy's voice is what counts and it develops a ritual for you and your child that you will find extremely useful later on. Both my children, and my stepdaughter are all avid readers and did/do extremely well in english. Never to early to start.

She won't comprehend the book obviously, and she doesn't have to sit at perfect attention, but it will be great for her to get used to hearing his voice focusing on a book, and he can read it a thousand times and keep reading it when she's older. No minimum age.

I have read to both of my kids since the day they were born. There is no age limit for reading a book to your kid, and the sooner you start the better. Let your fiance start right now. Obviously she isn't going to sit there while you read her a chapter book but if you can only get a couple pages read before she starts squirming or playing with the book its better then nothing!!

I've been reading to my son from the day I brought him home. When he was an infant, I read Coleridge because he didn't know any better. But I also started reading picture books meant for preschoolers, and I think that is the reason that even as a wiggly two year old he has the attention span for longer books.

I read to my kids as soon as they were born. Your child doesn't have to be interactive or have a long attention span to benefit from the attention, cuddles and voice of her parents. It doesn't even matter what you read to an infant. Could be a sales flier or a cereal box, and they are happy.

I still occasionally read to my kids now, they are 11 and almost-13. Even though they are both prolific readers on their own, being read-to is still awesome for them.

I do have to say that I think it is odd that your fiance feels the need to ask you for permission about this. Your post gives the impression that you might be a little too control-freaky as a mom and future wife. If that is so, try hard to learn to let go of that.

I started reading to my daughter when she was a baby. I checked out board books from the library and would check out usually at least 12 books at a time. I took her to the Bouncing Babies storytime.

My library came out with a library card for infants now. Here is what is posted on their site.

My First Library Card
It is important from the very beginning to read and sing to our babies and to help them slowly enter the world of print, song, rhyme and story. The library staff are ready and waiting to give children (newborn through 4 years old) these beautiful new cards!

When my daughter was only 1 month old... my Husband used to read to her. They would lay on their backs on a blanket on the floor, my Husband holding the book above their heads, and my daughter would be looking at the pages just fine and she could go for 1 hour like this.

It's never too early to start reading...to your child.

ASAP. My mom did, so I just continued the tradition. I never thought about attention span. I just used short repetitive storybooks like "Hi Pizza Man." I even read my son betime stories. I didn't care if he fell asleep 2 pages into the story. I just read him to sleep and stopped when I was sure he was sound asleep. I'd involve him in the book as much as I could like have him make the animal sounds for "Hi Pizza Man"....have him point things out in the picture....stop and have a conversation about what's going on in the book. You really don't need to be so serious about reading. We always viewed reading as fun and engaging in my family. Later on you can start where you left off and ask your child if they remember what happened in the book the last time you were reading to encourage memory development. Just find a good book and have fun. Other good books are: "Round is a Moon Cake," "Goodnight Moon," "Going to Sleep on the Farm," etc.

I started reading to him while he was in the tub playing, maybe he paid attention, maybe not but he didnt run away!! I read nursery rhymes and very very short books

I started reading to my older son at about 6 months old. I read at different times during the day, but always a story before bed. Now he is old enough to read the story to me :-) same with my younger son, but he isn't reading himself yet. You never know, she might sit longer than you expect if its a new book. If she doesn't sit through the whole thing, no big deal. You want to expose her to books early. Have fun :-)

OMG! You have a man that wants to read to his baby and you're questioning it?!! Stop! Reading to a child is always a good thing, and never a bad thing, no matter what their age.