[tolovemercy]

I always hear so much about how good it is to read to your DC, and I love to do it and have plenty of books that I'd like to read to him...thing is, he'd prefer to eat and/or destroy any book that comes within a two foot radius of him. How do people do this?

 

[MissMommyNiceNice]

That's cool! At least he's showing interest. Try giving him a board book while you read a different book to him. Or make him in charge of turning pages. My DS is a month younger, but loves turning pages!

 

[bluetoes]

I joined a book club for the wee man the minute I got home from the hospital as I intend for him to have a full bookshelf by the time he can actually read. But right now books are to chew on just like anything that comes in close contact with his mouth (spoons, the remote, the dog....). We're just going to keep at it and keep giving him the books he can actually chew on. I am an avid reader and DH is too (if comic books and graphic novels count...) so hopefully he'll get over it. I don't want the kid in kindergarten who wants to eat the books!

 

[SPOpa]

.

 

[Twwly]

DS only wants to eat his books. It's been months. I usually give him one and try reading from another. Or lay down and hold it up over us. Either way it involves acrobatics!

 

[boscopup]

I wasn't able to really READ to DS#1 until around 13-14 months, but then he got really into it and became a real bookworm!!!

I don't read to DS#2 yet, except to show him books during church and such. He can look at the pictures and flip the pages and chew on the book.

I'm not worried about actually reading stories until he's older though.

Oh, and before we got to the good reading point, we had a phase where DS#1 loved to read books, but wouldn't let me hang out on a page long enough to read. Sometimes I had to read really fast or just make stuff up.

 

[Dov'sMom]

DS (also 11/06) is also a book eating terror... (you should just see my bar review books!)

I either give him a board book to chew on while I read, or sit him on my lap and hold the book down with my foot a couple of feet away so he can't reach it. Whether he gets all squirmy and "acrobatic" depends on his mood -- sometimes when the book is too far away to eat he'll actually look at it.

His book reading etiquette has definitely gotten poorer as time goes on, though. When he was about 4 months old, he would sit through almost the whole of Hop on Pop before he wanted to eat it -- now, he just needs to see the book to start drooling for it.

 

[koru]

i have a friend who used to read daughter books at mealtimes when she was sitting her high chair. i thought that was a pretty good idea!

both my girls had short attention spans until about 18 months but we kept reading to them, regardless. now they're are avid "readers" at 4 & 2.5.

 

[crnnoel]

That's what my son does too

I think the important thing is we're exposing them to books, period. I think he likes the sing-songy-rhyme ones better than the ones that don't have a melody when read (if that makes sense) you could try some of those! But really, Fynn likes to play with the books and eat them more than anything else

 

[lovesea]

When ds was born we were given a palm sized book that had a rubber thing on top of it to chew. DS has always loved that book and still does. He gradually gnawed off the top part then stared on the pages, I even bought a replacement and that soon got into the same state,

I used to get really tired towards the end of the day, so for the last hour before dh got home from work was a reading hour. Ds would sit chewing his book, and I would read/show him pictures etc. of other books. BTW, I read some research that showed that if you want your son to be into books when he's older, his father (or other close male) should read to him.

 

[RomanGoddess]

Obviously depends on the child but my baby always loved those lift the flap books. Oh, and I never bothered with books with more than 3 or so words of text on one page.

 

[HappiLeigh]

I agree with PP who said only one or two words per page. If DD brings me a book with more words, I just point to one or two pictures per page and identify the names of the objects. Every now and again I can actually read her a book with a story, but not often.

 

[ShaggyDaddy]

get the touch and feel books! DS still loves them (24m now) and DD has always loved them (9m)

They have interesting textures on every page, and they are good solid board books.

 

[mykidsteacher]

DD is in the chew phase too. We hab=ve a "sacrifice" board book for her to destroy, while we attempt to read from another.

But don't panic if you can't read right now. My 11 yo wouldn't sit for a book until he was over 2. He'd chew them, sqim to get down, throw them across the room, etc. He was a late reader, but is a major bookworm now and reads well above grade level. Homeschooloing helped, I'm sure, because he was never labeled 'slow', and didn't learn to hate reading because it took longer for him.

Just keep trying, and make sure they see you and dh enjoying reading as well.