Long after they could read for themselves my children still enjoyed bedtime stories...Luke, the youngest, adored really old-fashioned Fairy Tales...the more gruesome they were the more he liked them...now my mind has gone blank, can't recall most of the titles. One was the tale of a sister with seven brothers who'd been transformed into Swans by a spell...the only way she could break the spell was to knit each brother a jumper made from nettles...once they were wearing these stingy and prickly jumpers they became human again.
Another of his favourites was The Red Shoes...a quite unpleasant tale about a small girl who was forced to dance until her feet bled...
One he knew word for word wasn't actually a fairy tale...it was a story about being thrown into a bramble patch...'Please don't throw me into the bramble patch'...do the voice Mummy, he'd say...it's better when you do the voice.
His elder brother loved adventure stories...there again it was the old-fashioned tales which he enjoyed the most...The Coral Island...Moby Dick...try reading that after a long day...Treasure Island and Lorna Doone...he'd sit bolt upright in bed clutching a Darth Vardar figure...hoping I'd get so carried away I'd not notice beginning yet another chapter...
He didn't care for fairy tales...he said he liked proper stories with proper people.
Now they are adults they still read voraciously...Luke, who so loved gory fairy tales, reads cook books for pleasure and can identify every edible fungus in a Swedish forest from poring over books...his brother Brendan reads books I simply can't understand...meta-physical thingies...and how to take your motor-bike apart and put it back together again books.
I asked Jack and Alex, who live up the street, if they have a story at bedtime...they looked totally bemused and said they watch the television in their bedroom before they go to sleep.
Suppose that'd be the same for most children nowadays...
Reading a story at bedtime, after a busy day at school or during the holidays playing out with friends, connects you to your child...it's a special time that I've never regretted and I think sets a sure foundation for a love of reading for their adult lives.
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Even young children nowadays have some sort of experience with technology.
I mentioned that to my daughters, the Mums of 2 four year olds, that books are a great way to interact with their children.
Luckily, because I always read to my 5 girls & encouraged them to read throughout childhood & join the local library, they now read to their own children.
I loved reading to my boys, and then my grandson, and even read stories on Skype to my grandson and granddaughter in Sydney. My eldest son's favourite was all the Swallows and Amazon stories by Arthur Ransome and my grandson loved the video. He liked Roald Dahl books and Dr Seuss too. I am a great believer in the value of reading.
My two grandchildren in Sydney are lucky that they have always been read to, and now Sorcha, who is nine, is avidly reading the Harry Potter books for herself and Fintan loves the David walliams stories. So much pleasure ahead of them. iris x
Lovely story as usual vashti. My parents always read to me and my 3 sisters and encouraged us to visit the library and were always buying us books. I remember starting off with Enid Blyton (what would we have done without her?), and graduated my way up to anything and everything.
I think quite a lot of it depends on personality though...one of my sisters hasn't read a book in her life apart from the odd Danielle Steel. x
Coughalot2, just down the road from me in Chessington, is a lovely period house with a plaque saying Enid Blyton lived here for so many years. Just FYI.
My boys r 25, 28 & 30 they always had bedtime stories , they joined in we had character voices , it was brilliant. My oldest know has a 11 month old boy called Stanley, his mum has started to read him stories with his last bottle . Amy is a infant teacher she knows how important this is 🛌🛌🍼🍼
My son used to love the Rohl Dahl books for bedtime stories.
I always used to stop reading at an exciting part, this meant he didn't mess about at bedtime the following night......l couldn't wait.., and often finished the book off when he was asleep !!!
I read to my grandchildren when they stay over, but they really like it if l tell them a story l have written myself...it's good to use your imagination , anything goes in a fairytale.
I agree with you Velvet. I used to make up stories sometimes for my youngest Daughter........trouble was - a few days later she'd sometimes say "Tell me that one you told me before about (whatever)," and I'd have to try to remember what on earth I'd said? Lol.
It,s magic telling them your own stories....l made one up about Suzy Mud...and my grandson had me tell him that story over and over again...the only thing was, he never wanted me to include the three little pigs in any story...to this day l've no idea why !!
Used to read to my daughter every night, until she was about 10. Now she reads to her two. I must admit thou their imaginations are much more eclectic than either Sammy or myself and will involve Minecraft and Skylander figures being carried around in small bags that are magic fairies who will keep them from harm. While they are dressed in their undies and shoes and carrying light sabers in one hand and usually a fish slice or hand whisk in the other as they go off to help the 'My Little Ponies land' from dastardly baddies. It's a joy to watch.
What I forgot to mention they speak to each other with American accents while they are in character but if somebody speaks to them they revert to their normal accent and when they go back to the game the American accent returns. I just love it.
We devoured books as children. Every Sunday my Dad took us to Shudehill market in Manchester and we could choose whichever one we wanted. It was bliss. Our house was full of books of all sorts and all Nations. When my daughter was born we started a collection for her, and read bedtime stories just as we had had them read to us. Her favourite was Alison Uttley's Little Grey Rabbit which she knew off by heart - woe betide her father if he faltered over words or tried to skip a line or two. He had quite a monotone voice for reading out loud and she would say "you have to speak in their voices daddy". The ones we had most fun with when she was small were Fattipuffss and Thinnifers and Struwwelpeter - again, my own childhood specials.
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