Living in Library Land at Home

I love to read with my kids.  Love it.  I believe with 100% of my heart that as a parent it is your privileged obligation to read to and with your kids.  However, because I love and appreciate other forms of media so much, too, it is sometimes hard for me to set boundaries for my kids.  I love to observe them intently watching a film or TV show, because after it we have detailed conversations about plot, character motivation, and other elements (like setting).  I also love to watch them play video games with their father.  They are gaining great hand-eye coordination AND problem-solving skills.  I mean, how could you ever play any edition of Zelda without developing problem-solving skills.

But, today I'm here to confess something.  Some days my two biggers spend too much time in front of the box instead of between the covers of a book.

I try to reassure myself.  They can't go to sleep without at least one story.  They love to re-read the same books over and over again (especially Halloween books--at all times of year), and the two biggers love to take books to their little sister, so she can open them, feel them, and use them as teething toys.  However, they usually only turn to books when I prompt them.  I feel like I'm giving too much time to the other forms of literacy media in our home, so I've started to try to balance out the time divided between media.  My partner in this?  Roald Dahl.

At the beginning of this week, I started to tell my oldest daughter about a very special book.  A VERY special book with a special girl who has powers and who LOVES to read more than anything.  My daughter's eyes grew wider and wider as I told her about this girl, named Matilda.  She wanted to jump into the book right away.  I feel like this is the perfect starting point to get my kids re-acquainted with asking for book time: the story is top notch (of course), Quentin Blake's illustrations come at least every other page to help them visualize what's going on, and Matilda's mission to bring justice to her friends and Miss Honey will include a lot of grossery and action for us to talk about.

So far #1 has enjoyed immensely and has started to ask,  "When will we be reading Matilda tonight?"  #2, who wasn't too interested at first, has started to take note and peer around the covers of the book to look at the classic Blake illustrations.  But, how did I REALLY know this ruse was working?

Yesterday, when sitting in the optometrist's waiting room, #1 and I were reading Dr. Seuss' The Sneetches.  When McBean started to take off the stars of the Star Bellies (at an exorbitant rate) after putting on stars to the No Star Bellies, #1 made an amazing connection.  She said, "McBean is like Matilda's daddy!  He's taking money from those people and being sneaky about it."

Oh, my.  I could not have been prouder in that moment.  Not proud that my plan had worked, but proud that she is starting to cultivate a love for Roald Dahl and can connect the dots between stories.  YES!