Top Tips for Literacy: Can we save the bedtime story?

 

Times have changed, and so have our kids. So have we. Literacy is on the decline and I don't believe bedtime stories are going to save us. If anyone has done a school visits with Prep lately, you will know todays kids are a different creature than they were even 10 years ago. This is a the result of a perfect storm of many things. We can't continue to rely on the things that have worked in the past, because they aren't working any more. Any early childhood teacher will tell you that.  And like most teachers will tell you, I absolutely believe that the initial responsibility lies with the parent, not the teacher.   Being a parent is hard work. School holidays are nearly done and so am I! When I was working full time, I used to be in tears knowing I wouldn't get to spend time with my kids on the school holidays because I had to work. The mother guilt was overwhelming at times and I was miserable. Now that I have the amazing opportunity of being on extended maternity leave with Tom, I get to spend time with all three of my beautiful boys. Isn't there a quote that says "be careful what you wish for?"   I am exhausted. Just leaving the house is a mission and everything you do costs money.  My boys are very different ages; 15, 12 and 1, which gives me the unquie insight to compare bringing up children in different decades (eek) but makes it even more difficult to find things that we can all do together. Where is the happy family fun time that I imagined it would be? Where are all the Facebook photos and gushing tweets about how much I love spending time with my children? I do love spending time with my kids, but they drive me nuts at the same time. When my two bigger boys were younger, I read to them every night. I love bedtime stories. I love the closeness I feel to them and I love creating those memories for them. I love helping them discover the type of story they like reading, the style of pictures they like and the themes they enjoy. There were no Ipads when they were little... Things have changed. I have changed. When I am trying desperately to get Tom to sleep, after a day of cooking (they are eating me out of house and home) cleaning (Tom leaves a trail of destruction wherever he goes) and being referee between the older two fighting, not to mention dirty nappies, bottles, spu, snot and soggy biscuits ground into the carpet, to be honest the last thing I feel like doing is yelling at the big boys to get off their iPads and wrestling Tom still enough to read him a story. I have tried, but Tom is a different creature to my other kids. I blame reading Game of Thrones when I was pregnant with him. At bedtime he turns into the spawn of Satan. He had no interest in bedtime stories. When he was tiny, I would read Enid Blyton to him every night, but that was before he could get away. What has happened to me???   I am a picture book author for goodness sake! I am putting myself out of business! Parents are struggling to find the time or energy to battle not only their exhaustion, but the appeal of Ipads and gaming consoles, to read to their kids at night. This is a fact. This is reality. It can't be passed over as bad parenting. It needs to be acknowledged as the new world order, right or wrong.(My kids didn't have ipads until they were at school and Tom doesn't have one, developmentally he is not ready, he would use it as a teething toy. That is personal preference.)There has to be a way that parents can read to their kids without it being another battle. I think I have come up with a solution that works for my family.
 I read Tom the instructions from the recipe (or from the back of the packet)  when I am cooking dinner. I get the boys to come and read them out to my while I am cooking. If there is something we hear on the news or on the radio that sparks a discussion between the older boys, I get them to google more information and then come and read it to me while I feed Tom. Tom loves hearing them read to him. We use board books during play time, as part of our daily "let's tire out Tom" routine. He holds a book while I change his nappy and he is learning to turn the pages carefully. I make a big deal about getting the free local paper. Jordan reads books independently at night, he is currently into Stephen King novels, Cody reads magazines and Tom eats whatever paper he can get his hands on.  It works for us. Feeling guilty about not reading bedtime stories to your kids shouldn't be another paralysing ploy of mother guilt. With our increasing busy lives, parents need to be smarter about how they are spending their time with the kids in general, making sure reading, reading out loud and sharing a love of reading play some part in day to day life. It doesn't have to be at bedtime, but it needs to be part of the day to day running of the family unit. It will take time to develop.  It is important they see that you enjoy to read, not only to them, but for work and for your own enjoyment. If you don't enjoy reading your children bedtime stories, I don't suggest you do it. If you love reading bedtime stories to your children, that's fabulous. Kids today are amazing imitators. Kids are much more practical and visual than my generation. They are less likely to try something they see has no intrinsic value to them. We need to be developing ways of introducing books to kids that will suit their new world and we need to start from when they are very young. We need to start thinking about the skills we are passing on to a new generation and make sure they are suited to the future world that awaits them. It's hard, but it's not impossible.Teach your kids the skill of reading when they are young because it's a life tool they will use everyday of their lives. But if it's not at bedtime, don't stress. Talk soonx Michelle www.michelleworthington.com