How do I get 4yo DS to read with us?

I read to my 4 yo B/G twins every night before bed. My DD loves it and would have me read for hours probably. But DS is generally not interested and would rather play with his cars and trucks. We have to practically force him to sit with us most times. A few times I have even told him to go on and brush his teeth since he didn't want to sit still and hear the story. I'm not sure what the right thing to do is and I feel like he is missing out on an opportunity to learn as well as have fun if I don't include him in story time. What do you guys think?

K

 

I would give him the opportunity to read, but if he isn't interested, don't push it. If you force him to listen, he will probably fight you, and he won't enjoy it. I find if one doesn't want to read with us, if he is nearby, and hears something that interests him, he will join in. If you are forcing him to sit, he really isn't using it as a learning opportuity anyway.

 

I agree with Sharon. I read to whoever wants to listen and let the others do their own thing. I found with my now 7yr old that he would actually hear the story better if he was doing something else with his hands while I read. He'd look up at the picture sometimes, but usually just listened. If I asked him questions about the book after reading, he could answer them when he'd been playing. If he had been sitting with me looking at the book, he rarely remembered much. hth

 

Agree with Sharon also. Both of mine like it when I read to them, but depending on the day, one may only be interested for a short period of time and will sit nearby and play. Then if interested, he or she will rejoin us.

 

Just a suggestion, and you may already be doing it.

Have you tried to make the story interactive? When one of my guys seems bored with it, I will point out pictures that are not even in the story and ask him what it is, or ask them what they will think will happen next. We also play "find the letter" where I will have them take turns trying to find a letter on a page. It gets to now even when I am reading the newspaper or anything else they will want to come up and find a letter for me.

Good luck, and even if you have tried this and it does not work, he will be interested at his own rate in his own time I am thinking.

 

I just make sure that books are always around. I dont know how old your twins are, mine are 20 months. We someimtes just go thru the book and look at the pictures. My DD often takes the books and reads them to me. I ask her to do it sometimes, of course, I cant understand a word she is saying, but she thinks she is reading. I guess what I am trying to say is that I dont make it too formal where they feel like they have to read. I just let them participate as they want to. There were days where I would just sit and read the book outloud to myself and when I put it down they would want me to read it to them, I think that they saw what mommy was doing and wanted to do it too.

 

I agree with the pp that you shouldn't try to force him to sit and listen or the whole thing could backfire and he might start to associate reading with negative feedback. I wonder if you could work with him to find some books and subjects that he would like to read about. Perhaps you could take him to the library or bookstore so he can pick out some books himself. I was so surprised when DH took the boys to the library and they came back with a rather mature book about snakes :huh: . The boys loved reading it and looking at the photos (the closest a snake will ever get to being in my house). They hardly even noticed when we skipped over the section about mating :icon_biggrin: .