My kids wont sit and listen at story time

I have my kids in nursery school 3 mornings/wk, and I just had a conference with the teacher (for parent-teacher interviews) and she said that they are doing really well in most areas, except that they are disruptive to the class when they do story time as they do not want to sit and listen to her read a story, my DD often goes off and plays with other toys (and they keep trying to get her to come back to the area where the story is being told), and DS also doesn't want to "sit and listen". I kind of thought that asking a 2yr old to actually sit down and listen to a story for 5 minutes might be asking a bit much. Then, apparently after story time they give each child a book to look at for a few minutes, and apparently both of mine just take a quick look (and if they dont find the book interesting) they try and eat it, pick it apart, stand on it - anything but sit quietly and read it.
I do read to them nearly everyday, and they do usually listen (when they are sitting on my lap or right next to me), we also have lots of books around but it seems that the last few months they just aren't that interested in sitting and looking at books.
I was a little taken back by the teacher's comment that the kids are kind of disrupting the class, because my kids are very well behaved and polite children - but apparently they just dont want to sit and listen to a story...

 

They sound like perfectly normal 25 month olds to me!

My boys will sit on my lap for a long time listening to stories, but if I sat on the floor and expected them to sit in front of me like I was a teacher, I'm pretty sure they'd be off and running in a few seconds! And to expect 2-year-olds to sit and listen to a story and THEN look at a book independently? Sounds like the school has unrealistic developmental expectations of their 2-year-olds.

And, aren't 2-year-olds just disruptive by nature? :laughing:

I'd take the teacher's comments and throw them out the window! Try not to give them another thought. :hug:

 

I have to agree with Jori, your kids just turned 2...sitting and listening is probably not one of their priorities at this time. There is too much to do and see and their attention spans aren't that long. My husband and I took the kids to story time last weekend and my DD kept getting up to run around and my DS sat and listened to most of the story but even he had his moments of wanting to do other things.

 

To give the other perspective, my daughters' preschool does story time too, and the 2 year olds are expected to sit and listen. Most of the kids do sit still, so perhaps it's a learned skill that your girls will get in a few weeks or months?

You could always talk to your girls about how it's important to still and listen when the teacher asks. You could even do story time at home on the floor to practice the concept.

 

Absolutely...it's funny they are telling you like it's something a 25 month old should be able to do like why can't they..lol. I always tried to read to my boys but stopped for a long time because they just would not pay attention. At about 2.5 I started again and they would actually sit and listen now we make daily trips to the library. Don't worry.

 

Yours sound exactly like mine. I posted a similar question on here a few months ago because mine just wouldn't sit and listen to a story anymore. They used to love to read, but just gave it up. Within the past couple months, they've started to enjoy reading again. I think there is just a developmental period when other things are more important (independence, perhaps?). Oh, and mine are 29mos now.

 

Thank-you all so much, I feel better now : ) Mine used to love books as well, but over the past 3months or so books just dont seem to interest them at all. I am guessing that within the next few months they will come around again, I will just keep trying. Mine will sit on me and listen to me read, but just have trouble sitting in front of a teacher and listening. The funny thing is that DD and DS wont sit and listen at story time right now, but they aren't loud and running around, they just choose to play with a toy quietly instead. I am hoping that maybe while they are playing with that toy they are listening to the story anyway.

 

When my boys were around that age, we went to library storytime and they were the same way. I was frustrated and embarrassed by their inability to sit still and pay attention. They are much better now. They don't always pay attention, but they do sit quietly and patiently. I wouldn't worry too much - I am surprised many of the other kids are cooperating with circle time at that age either!

 

The teacher sounds nuts to me. Your kids are totally normal. Maybe she picks out really dull stories. At this age they don't follow the story anyhow. My kids could care less about a story but yet we look at books and we name the pictures and they do great with that. It sounds like that teacher doesn't know 2 yr olds.. again your kids are totally normal. She needs to make her class more interesting!

 

I find at home my one daughter will get up and move around when I'm reading. I think she is actually listening just wanting to do two things at once. She might look at a different book while I'm reading. It doesn't bother me, and I don't think it should bother a preschool teacher either. What does she expect you to do anyways ? Come in and MAKE them sit ? REally preschool issues need to be dealt with at preschool.

heather

 

We do storytime, and we started at 23 months old. I was reallly worried about how they would do with sitting and being patient(I had their baby sister with me as well). Overall, they do great-which surprised me. BUT... As a former preschool teacher, I would never expect a two year old to sit for no more than 2-3 minutes, five at the absolute most-every single day of the week. Storyhour at the library, to me, is a novelty. It's once a week-kids look forward to it, kwim? But if they go to school, and it happens everytime-it can get old-especially at that age.

I remember the first storyhour. First, the boys had to sit and wait until EVERYONE(14 kids), put a sticker next to their name. Then they had to sit and listen to the book. Next, they had to sit and wait for everyone to get their turn while helping out with the flannelboard story. A LOT of sitting. And waiting. It was torture for me because I was afraid my two were going to run around like crazy!

I wouldn't worry. I think they are fine. And maybe the teacher can have a quiet activity for those who don't want to participate in storytime. If she notices it happens at every storytime with your kids-then she should be trying things to fix it, or change her itinerary. You don't have to go by the schedule every.single.day.

It's a learning process. But what I do do with the boys before storyhour is go over the rules with them on the way to the library. We sit on our bottoms. We put our listening ears on, etc.