(Disclaimer: I do realise that much of this applies to girls. I was one once. I was also a tomboy and read “boy” books. I started my working life as a computer scientist. Even now I prefer spy thrillers over chick lit. I don’t mean in any way to infer that these are exclusively boy traits or exclusively boy books. But there are biological differences between boys and girls, and here I’m focusing on boys.) Ah little boys. They love to move, they love to play, they love to laugh, they love to pretend, they love to fart on cue. They dual, spar, build, break, leap, run, wipe snot on their sleeves and when they come home from school or preschool they want nothing more than a big hug from their mum. And food. Lots of food. They have the emotional capacity of an entire planet and the emotional expressiveness…
It's 7.15pm on a weeknight. Mr Ueckerman is out at a dinner. The boys and I have eaten and I'm cleaning up. I ask Mr 6 to help Mr almost-4 to put on his pyjamas and read him a book, though not entirely sure how that will pan out. He happily agrees; he loves being a helpful big brother... mostly. Ten minutes later, I peek in to their bedroom. There they are, on one of the beds, Mr 6 reading a book to his little brother. It's one of those moments that make you stop, absorb the scene and file it away for later. It doesn't matter that 45 minutes ago they were both complaining because I didn't cook spaghetti for dinner. This is one of those moments that I'll cherish forever. My two boys, together, reading, sharing a book. The family ritual of us parents sharing a book with them before…
Young children love hearing their favourite stories over and over (and over) again. However, as they grow older and want to hear longer books, they prefer novelty. Which means more books. The library is a great help and we visit the library every week, but it's also nice to have a selection of books at home, that children can read again themselves when they are ready. It's also great for them to have books to pour over alone, even if they can't read all of the words yet - see my blog post Books Around the House: Normalising Reading. Building a home library sounds expensive, but it doesn't have to be. Here are six sources (in no particular order) that I use to build ours without it costing a fortune: 1. Source secondhand books I have picked up lots of great books for very low prices at "Opp" shops, garage sales, school…
When I was ten years old, we lived with my grandfather for seven months. He lived in an old stone house surrounded by lush farmland in Cornwall, in the south of England. The house had once been a butter factory and in his younger days my grandfather ran a nursery - he had a shop room, greenhouses and what he called a "meadow" (rows and rows of different varieties of trees). It was a young girl's dream - countryside to explore, lots of places to play hide and seek, a cubby house that my grandfather build for my sister and I, and treasures to find in the old shop that was now a store room. We had very few toys and books there as most what we did own was in storage, waiting to be shipped to Australia (as were we). When we'd exhausted ourselves outside, my favourite thing to do was to make my way…
My eldest son is nearly six (how on earth did that happen?) and he recently brought home a reader from school called Rough and Smooth. He has been trending towards non-fiction readers for a while now, so it's hardly surprising. However, he refused to read this book to me beyond the first page, and in all honesty I don't blame him because it was pretty dry. Actually, very dry - honestly, who wants to read on and on about things that are rough and things that are smooth when there are adventures to be had? How could I force him to read that book when I saw the excitement in his eyes at the opportunity to hear me read a book that will take him on an adventure? The reader sat on the shelf unread for a few days, so loving mum that I am, I went to the library and brought home a stack…
