Bedtime Stories are More Important Than You Think

No matter whether you homeschool or have your kids in public or private school, when classes resume schedules get crazy! Anxiety, frustrations and exhaustion make life… challenging. Slowing down for bedtime stories is more important for you and your children than you ever thought.

Mother reading to daughter in bed at night

Some of our very best family memories center around reading aloud favorite books. I remember reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to the kids and their reaction to the hissy voice of the basilisk. They weren’t sitting in our living room, they were at Hogwarts and they were terrified and loving it!

Why Are Bedtime Stories So Important?

Hearing GOOD Writing

When you read a book like C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe aloud your young kids get to enjoy excellent writing at a reading level much higher than their own. At the same time listening to fluent reading gives them a model for how reading is supposed to flow and be expressive.

Additionally our listening comprehension level is much higher than our reading levels for a long time. Now don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against reading easier books too because then they will be able to re-read them independently later.

After they hear you read it they may even want to read it to you or to younger siblings.

Talking About the Story

I’m currently reading The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe to my oldest grandson. He has an amazing vocabulary for a nine year old, but frequently there will be “English” words he isn’t familiar with. It only takes a second to say, “Oh a wardrobe is like the armoire in the front bedroom, only in this case bigger.”

Now he has a mental picture to go with the new word. When Mr Tumnus was described as melancholy he didn’t even ask. He knew by context what it was by how I was reading it.

Because we’re reading in installments a week apart, we do little recaps before we continue. In this way he gets to practice recall, talk about favorite parts and ask questions that have occurred to him during the week.

I know very few of us have kids the same age, with the same interests, who want to read the same books.

Why not take turns picking out the story to be read? It’s a good way for siblings to learn about each other in a new way and bond over new adventures from the books. Maybe drawing a new title out of a jar … whatever works best for you and your kiddos. I know you’ll figure it out.

Kids want to hang out with us. They most often think we’re pretty cool. They need to know we think they’re great too and want to spend special time with them! So that guaranteed time they have with you at night is also a super time for them to open up about school, friends, concerns, and dreams.

Bottom line is that a lot can go down during bedtime reading, so it’s way too important to give up!