Reading-deprived parents of hyperstimulated children...

[Tigerle]

...get yourselves a Kindle Paperwhite! Or any other reading device you can use in the dark with instant internet connection. Best Christmas present ever!

O the years of my life (or so it seems) I have spent in darkened rooms trying to still a child's racing mind and squirming body so he or she can finally find sleep, wanting to fall asleep myself, not wanting to fall asleep myself but doing so anyway, and so often bored bored bored while my child was tossing and turning, exhausted but unable to calm down.

Does this describe you?

Kiss them goodnight, turn over and turn on your Kindle and tell them to go to sleep. And then stop fretting and waiting and forcing yourself to lie still, just start enjoying the massage their little feet are trampling on your back and legs or their elbows in your neck until they finally, finally settle down. Then, when the baby wakes up to nurse, sit up in the darkened room which calms him down so nicely and helps him focus on drinking, and lets him fall asleep again.

All the while you are enjoying your book, or Wikipedia, or browsing on Amazon. Heaven.

[whatsnextmom]

I got a Kindle Fire to help with the hours and hours and hours in the dark waiting for rehearsals, lessons and practices to be done. certainly a good tool for parents with busy kids.

[moominmamma]

Kiss 'em good night and roll over and read ... always managed that without an e-reader. A simple LED book-light and a book worked fine. Though I admit to loving my iPad, which I use as an e-reader, and I am lusting after a Kobo Glo for other reasons. Mostly the possibility that it might give me access to library books. (We don't have a local library.)

Enjoy your new toy!

Miranda

[Tigerle]

Originally Posted by moominmamma 

A simple LED book-light and a book worked fine.

My kids would have been wound up by wanting to play with the light and by the sound of turning the pages. Also my husband  - by the sound of the pages, I mean, not by wanting to play! I tried reading with a book light earlier in our marriage because reading helps me calm down myself and still the thoughts in my head, but then my husband, who can fall asleep instantly without worries but is very sensitive to noise and movement anywhere in the house, would start tossing and turning! And he will love not having to build new bookshelves, and not having to discard the heaps of old papers and magazines anymore.

All around a sanity saver! (I only wish the battery were as good as they claimed, mine does not last weeks, only days).

[ollyoxenfree]

Originally Posted by Tigerle 

My kids would have been wound up by wanting to play with the light and by the sound of turning the pages. Also my husband  - by the sound of the pages, I mean, not by wanting to play! I tried reading with a book light earlier in our marriage because reading helps me calm down myself and still the thoughts in my head, but then my husband, who can fall asleep instantly without worries but is very sensitive to noise and movement anywhere in the house, would start tossing and turning! And he will love not having to build new bookshelves, and not having to discard the heaps of old papers and magazines anymore.

All around a sanity saver! (I only wish the battery were as good as they claimed, mine does not last weeks, only days).

I've found the same thing. There's a glare with a reading light that an ereader doesn't seem to have. I find the light from an e-reader is more diffuse and less disturbing. The page thing can also be problematic and more likely to disturb. I think one of my favourite things about an ereader is the ability to adjust the font size for my middle-aged eyes, especially if I have dimmed the backlight a little for reading in bed. I use an iPad and download library books from my local library. It uses the Overdrive app. 

Glad you are enjoying your sanity saving e-books. Any good recommendations? I also enjoyed your "novel" in the December updates thread. 

[Tigerle]

I like being able to read books such as "Bright not Broken" and "Emotional intensity in Gifted Students" (both interesting but not revelatory) without anyone else being able to come across it and judge me for reading books on gifted kids! (Sort of like the "Shades of Grey" effect, though i haven't bothered reading that one yet).

I thought "How Children Succeed" was very interesting and relevant also to parenting gifties, if a bit diffuse (reporting not writing, iykwim).

I have discovered David Mitchell, loving "Cloud Atlas" (though I can't work up interest in the movie) and enjoying "Black Swan Green" (though it is certainly not "this high school's generation's "A catcher in the Rye", as someone on Slate I think claimed - particularly as it is about growing up inthe eighties).

I love "Wolf Hall", but have currently abandoned it (Kindle saves my place - love that, too) because I came across the review of "Far from the Tree" in my trial subscrption to the Economist

http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21568692-how-differences-isolate-individuals-can-unite-humanity-life-another-tune

by Andrew Solomon, which IS revelatory for me, because of its direct relevance to my family. I am only into the second chapter, but there will be one on "prodigies", so maybe also relevant for parenting gifted children. I'll let you know.

Having 3G internet access is so seductive....

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by Tigerle 

My kids would have been wound up by wanting to play with the light and by the sound of turning the pages. 

LOL, see, mine have their own book-lights and headlamps and flashlights (we're often without power here) so that held no allure, but would be totally entranced by an e-reader, and would constantly be trying to peer over my shoulder and asking to swipe and touch.

Miranda

[whatsnextmom]

Originally Posted by moominmamma 

LOL, see, mine have their own book-lights and headlamps and flashlights (we're often without power here) so that held no allure, but would be totally entranced by an e-reader, and would constantly be trying to peer over my shoulder and asking to swipe and touch.

Miranda

Same here. I can only imagine if I'd tried to have something as fancy as a kindle or ipad next to them when they were little and going to bed lol.

[ollyoxenfree]

Originally Posted by Tigerle 

I like being able to read books such as "Bright not Broken" and "Emotional intensity in Gifted Students" (both interesting but not revelatory) without anyone else being able to come across it and judge me for reading books on gifted kids! (Sort of like the "Shades of Grey" effect, though i haven't bothered reading that one yet).

I thought "How Children Succeed" was very interesting and relevant also to parenting gifties, if a bit diffuse (reporting not writing, iykwim).

I have discovered David Mitchell, loving "Cloud Atlas" (though I can't work up interest in the movie) and enjoying "Black Swan Green" (though it is certainly not "this high school's generation's "A catcher in the Rye", as someone on Slate I think claimed - particularly as it is about growing up inthe eighties).

I love "Wolf Hall", but have currently abandoned it (Kindle saves my place - love that, too) because I came across the review of "Far from the Tree" in my trial subscrption to the Economist

http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21568692-how-differences-isolate-individuals-can-unite-humanity-life-another-tune

by Andrew Solomon, which IS revelatory for me, because of its direct relevance to my family. I am only into the second chapter, but there will be one on "prodigies", so maybe also relevant for parenting gifted children. I'll let you know.

Having 3G internet access is so seductive....

Ah, yes, I think David Mitchell is talented although I've only read his earlier stuff. Ghostwritten was very good, especially for a first novel. I've been very interested in the Andrew Solomon book but there's a long wait list for it at my library. This is the first year in memory that I did not receive a single book for Christmas. My universe may unravel, lol! 

[expecting-joy]

Originally Posted by moominmamma 

LOL, see, mine have their own book-lights and headlamps and flashlights (we're often without power here) so that held no allure, but would be totally entranced by an e-reader, and would constantly be trying to peer over my shoulder and asking to swipe and touch.

Miranda

Originally Posted by whatsnextmom 

Same here. I can only imagine if I'd tried to have something as fancy as a kindle or ipad next to them when they were little and going to bed lol.

Same here. We also are far too often w/o power for a week or more at a time - they each have their own headlamp, booklight, flashlight & lantern - but an e-device ~ way too interesting to ignore.

[Aufilia]

Oh yes, I got a smartphone when my youngest was about 9 months old and I'm pretty sure it kept me from frazzled, sleep-deprived insanity during the months he flat-out refused to nap at all, not to mention the unpredictable night-wakings and the hours spent trying to convince him to get on a sleep schedule.  Though on the downside after about a year I couldn't hold it where he could see it because he'd much rather look at it and play with it than sleep!

[meemee]

HA!!! reading. READING. that would not fly with dd. no way. being an only, her competition was me. some of her first sentences were why cant I do it too. not fair.