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Joelle
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| Posted: July 19 2006 at 10:35pm | IP Logged
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A question for those with little ones too young to sit still: When do you read aloud to your older ones? My 10, 6, & 4 year old children love to have me read almost any story aloud to them. However, my 2 year old is a wild thing! Seriously. She will sit for Goodnight Moon... maybe, but she yells and screams and is so distracting when I try to read to the others that it is nearly impossible. We have tried giving her quiet activities during reading time and she just doesn't engage. Right now, we are reading after she goes to bed, but then the others are up later than I would like. During naps is peaceful too, but that is when I try to get things done or sometimes just rest. I just had this picture of reading time being so serene and engaging for all, including her. Kind of like my vision for the family Rosary... 
Peace & Blessings, Joelle
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kingvozzo
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| Posted: July 19 2006 at 11:12pm | IP Logged
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Joelle, I can so relate to this post! My 2 yo ds has only just begun sitting still for books, and only when they are of HIS choosing. I'm sorry to say that I don't really have any solutions or suggestions, just empathy! I'm sure your dd will come to love storytime soon!
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Noreen
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Mom to 4 great kids and 10 sweet ones in Our Lady's arms
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stefoodie
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| Posted: July 20 2006 at 5:05am | IP Logged
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When my little one was little (she's now 4 and will listen quietly to most read-alouds), I read aloud everytime she nursed. Kept her quiet and preoccupied (talk about a captive audience) -- by the time she stopped nursing (around the time she turned 4) she was also mature enough to sit still for read alouds and had developed a taste for the longer books, picture and otherwise. She still gets antsy if I'm reading a long picture-less chapter book, but I don't do it that often anymore since the olders love to read those themselves. I also nursed while saying the Rosary. She still plays to this day and won't remain seated 100% but she's learned to at least keep quiet for the most part, sometimes pray a few Hail Marys with us and hold her wooden Rosary.
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stef
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mary
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| Posted: July 20 2006 at 6:59am | IP Logged
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i have a 3 yr old and have the same issue. when she nursed, i did like stef and nursed while i read and it went beautifully. now, she is a handful in the evening. what works best then is for daddy to read her books at the same time. during the day, she is generally occupied. i have a box of lentils and plastic pill bottles that she will happily play with while i read. (i will only get it out for the read-alouds to keep it fresh.) good luck finding a solution - it's very difficult to read to the big kids when the little one is wanting all of the attention.
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cathhomeschool
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| Posted: July 20 2006 at 8:17am | IP Logged
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Until this last year, one of my littles was very distracting too. I gave up reading aloud during the day because if I was doing the reading, he wanted to sit in my lap and look at the page of his choice. Dh read aloud at bedtime and son did lay still for that. During the day, I assigned my older two to read aloud to each other and also relied heavily on audio books.
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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JSchaaf
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| Posted: July 20 2006 at 3:28pm | IP Logged
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No advice, but I thought you might enjoy this from one of my favorite blogs, The Crib Chick.
Jennifer
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ALmom
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| Posted: July 20 2006 at 5:09pm | IP Logged
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We did the nighttime reading as Jannette posted - started with the youngest's book and then just went through our read - alouds as youngest konked.
There were a few times that dad would have to do some of the read alouds while I settled the youngest down - but it did work.
Even now that we can do plenty of read aloud during the day, all the dc expect their books at night -it is part of the bedtime ritual. We've had the problem of figuring out how to adjust so bedtime doesn't drag out too late with all of us in a book.
Janet
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Joelle
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| Posted: July 21 2006 at 3:12pm | IP Logged
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The link on the Crib Chick was the story of my read-aloud life!! And now I have to laugh at it--thank you!
Thank you for your suggestions, the night thing is working out pretty well, but I still have to be careful that we are not ALL up to midnight (haha) reading. What we have discovered is that busy, busy 2yo starts to calm down during the Rosary and if we start this early enough, we can read aloud before bed. It is on the nights that we don't start praying early enough and she goes to bed afterwards, THEN the 'bigs' are read to that we all end up later to bed than I'd prefer. And the nursing is working out well, but the boy is only 8mo, and also reaches for everything I'm holding...(sigh)!! Nice to know I'm not alone in this arena! AND I am so grateful to God for having these "distractions!" God Bless you all!
Joelle
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Reading aloud with wee ones
