Take Time to Read

Something that has always been important to me and that my mom did a very good job of showing me the importance of is reading. I am obsessed with reading. I love a good book, I love that I'm able to increase my knowledge and understanding of things just by using my library card, I love being able to spend a few minutes each day away from all the stresses of my life and focused on the lives of the characters in whatever I happen to be reading at the time. When I was little I remember my mom having to limit the amount of time I was allowed to read each night before bed of I would have stayed up until midnight at the age of six. I was never one of those kids who struggled to complete those daily 20 minutes of reading assignments. When I was in middle school, I would read whatever my mom was reading which at that time was a lot of mysteries. She also had a subscription to the Reader's Digest and I remember having battles with her over it. Whichever of us got the mail that day would sneak it into our room trying not to be discovered. If I realized that it was past the time it should have been delivered, I would sometimes go into my mom's room and look under her pillow and slip it away into my own bed. It was a fun game that we played because we were always looking for some new written word to be devoured.

This passion for reading and learning is something that I want to pass on to my own daughter. Something that I do to accomplish this is make sure to read to her everyday. Right now it's a part of our bedtime routine and I always read her a book or two before bed. Sometimes I have to remind myself to do it. Other times it turns into neat family time as my husband and I sit down with her and a pile of books to go through together. We let her turn the pages and point out the pictures that she knows the words for. We use silly voices and rhythms and try to get her involved as much as possible. And it appears to be working. She would rather play with books than with almost any other toy. And in fact, the other day I brought home a child-sized recliner/rocker which is to be her Christmas gift. I set it down to go look for a place to put it until December and came out to find her sitting in it with her blanket on her lap and a book in her hands, babbling away as she turned the pages.

So the next time you have a few minutes with your kids without anything to do, pick up a book, a magazine, and advertisement and take time to read with them! For more ideas of ways to spend quality time with your family, visit Family Moment Monday at Motherhood for Dummies.

Family Moment Monday

The other day I was thinking about how rare it is that hubs and I together actually sit down and play with Pumpkin together. Usually it is him or I because one of us is entertaining her while the other one showers/gets ready/completes some task/gets food ready etc. But we always try to carve out some time every Monday night after hubs gets home from work that we designate specifically to spending time just the three of us. Usually it's about an hour and consists of singing a few songs and a few rounds of Ring Around the Rosies or Patty Cake. It's cute to see how excited Pumpkin gets when she realizes that we are both participating and one of us isn't running off to get something done. As she gets older we will be able to teach her things, play other games and even use it as time to discuss family activities/issues. I think the most important part now is to get ourselves into the habit of making time that is real, solid, "put everything else on the back burner for a minute", family together time!

For other ideas to use for family time, go to Motherhood for Dummies and check out Family Moment Monday.