Tips on Reading Books that Make you Cringe Aloud to Your Kids
A brief attempt to calm down and enjoy the moment because reading is the absolute best!
I read to my daughter every night she is with me. We have to do the whole shared custody thing. So, she is not always with me. This makes my time with her sometimes more precious and sometimes more pressure-filled to get it all right, to make it all perfect.
Last night I nearly failed. It was bedtime. I was all set to read her a good classic fairy tale, or even Harry Potter “the first one” as she calls it. But instead she does a bedtime reading switch up on me. She grabs this other book. This book about cats who are warriors.
I did my best.
After the first page I was ready to throw it across the room. So wordy. So many cats. So many long cat names that all end in paw. And oh joy! This is book one in what looks like a 100-part series.
I realized I was in this for the long haul. I realized I needed help.
I realized I was the only one who could really help myself.
Here’s my best attempt at helping myself in ways that might also be of help to other parents in similar situations. Because heads up: a lot of kids books are not great these days. Some are written by computers and cranked out faster than candies from that chocolate machine in that I Love Lucy episode. Some are written by actual people, but,…but why?
1). Smile. It’s your kid. She wants to read with you. She wants you to read to her. It is quality time. And that mom voice in my head that sometimes helps, sometimes hurts, is always going on and on about “someday she won’t want you to read to her anymore at all.” Ouch!
2). Don’t let your intense frustration with writing style or plot quality be heard in your voice. Try really hard to sound like you are enjoying it for the love of reading. Breathe!
3). Go slowly in the hopes that your kid falls asleep faster and you can stop reading this soon. Slow reading is sleepy reading!
4). Spend a lot of time on questions that don’t put down the book or discourage the love of reading, but that involve you not having to read any more of the words that are making you cringe. Conversations about reading and books are amazing, always!
5). Lastly, be mindful. Enjoy the moment. Kids love what they love and as long as it is not harmful, racist, sexist, homophobic, hateful, ignorant, etc. well go with it for them and with them.
When we express an interest in what our kids are interested in, they know we care about them and love them. Even if it means having to read a book where every character is a cat with the same sounding name.
Jenny Justice is a mom, Sociology instructor, and writer. You can follow her on Medium and at Jenny Justice, Writer