Reading with Twins

So I know how important it is to read with your kids... heck, I'm a teacher. My boys are 14 months often flip through books on their own, occassionally chew on the pages, but I find actually reading to them difficult. They look for a few pages and then they want to grab the book, or they get squirmy. Last night DH and I tried to get through a very short, simple book before bed and it was a bit of a gong show. Is this normal at this age? I picture happily reading a whole book while they're both cuddled up and attentive but that's definitely not happening at the moment!!

 

I found this with all of my kids. It hasn't been until the past month that they will grab a book sit in my lap and let me flip through it and read. Now, with that being said, by "book" I mean the book with one picture and the word at the bottom. Its quick and easy, you can go through the book about 10 times before they get board with it. So when they flip really fast through the book its not like you are missing parts of the story, its just differnt picture and objects. I would start off with those and work your way up to some more basic books with more words. Keep it simple because you are spot on in that they just don't have the attention to it. They aren't necessarily hearing the words as much as they are seeing the pictures.

My 3 year old son loves to read books now but go to the book store and look at the "Critter" books and the "Bearenstein Bear" books, you will see a huge difference in the amount of words in them. He is interested in teh Critter books because they are short on each page but lots of things to look at.

Sorry this is so long winded, but I was in the same place as you with book and I would get nervous and frustrated that they weren't learning early enough...but its all good!

 

We got my first into the habit of reading when he was an infant. We were not able to do the same with the twins, and it's only been in the last two months that they really have been interested in books. They prefer the books with lots of little word pictures to ones with stories right now - I guess that is where their comprehension is. Keep trying!

 

I found that age to be the WORST for reading books! They were actually better listeners when they were infants! :lol: Like you, I had lots of rosy pictures in my mind of 2 cute children snuggled on my lap reading a lovely bedtime story....what I got was 2 wriggling, sometimes screaming toddlers. <_<

I really wanted to establish a bedtime story habit with my boys, so what we did was pick *very* short books, and try to make them fun (making noises, hand motions, etc.), and when that failed, we just got through it as quickly as possible. Good books I found for that age were Sandra Boynton board books; they're very short, rhyming, fairly rugged, and small enough so it's easy to turn pages with squirming kids.

If your boys are anything like mine, this phase should only last a few months, and then they will learn to LOVE storytime. :wub:

 

I agree it's very typical for the age! Closer to the age of 2 I was finally able to sit down with my twosome and read them a story (as in very short 1-2 sentences on each page). Now we can sit and read something a little bit longer but they still get antsy towards the end. However, we'll sit and read book after book after book in the evening with them now, for 30 mins or more if we let them, until we get tired of reading books! :laughing:

 

I agree - normal for their age. We still read two books to them every night as part of their bedtime routine, even if they just ran around in the living room while we read. Eventually, one or both would come & sit for portions of storytime. Now they love to pick their book & sit & cuddle & read with us.

 

Pretty much the only time our boys will sit down and let us read a whole book is at bedtime when they are tired. During the day, they will look at books on their own, and we have a few toddler look and find books that they will sit down and actually look at, but those are interactive (them pointing at things, etc.). I would just keep trying, but don't stress about it, and they will get there eventually.

 

My son actually brings the book to me and sits on my laps to listen to story. He also helps turning pages. Yes they aren't not patient enough to finish the book. But I just continue reading when they play as well. They like their reading time. We started his habit since they were infants.

My husband also tells them stories during dinner time and try like that.

 

We've gone through many phases with reading. When the boys were <1 year we'd read occasionally throughout the day to introduce them to books and get them interested. When they turned 1 we implemented reading as part of the bedtime routine. Since then, there have been phases where they sit quietly and attentively as we read the books (DH takes one DS and I take the other). We've gone through phases where they will only let us read them certain books. We've gone through phases where they only want to look at a few certain pages of particular books and talk about the pictures. We've gone through phases where they have to hold the books themselves and flip through them and we don't do much talking or reading at all. And, there have been a few nights (usually not extended phases) when they're not interested at all, probably because they're overtired. We really just follow their lead, but I can tell you that we've never skipped a night of reading save for those few when they're melting down. I think it's very important to keep exposing them to different stories/concepts/images/etc. and let them explore the books in whatever way they want to. We're in a phase now where we do not read verbatim from the books, rather we go through the pages and relate the images to things they know and understand (ex. "here's a bicycle, do you remember seeing all of the kids riding bikes at the park earlier today?"). Also, every day throughout the day I ask them to bring me books several times and we'll read, or they bring them to me on their own (we have a collection of books in their nursery and in their playroom) and just plop down in my lap to read, or they'll go off and flip through the books on their own.
So, there will likely be many phases of "reading." Just keep at it every day and let them guide how you actually explore the books, even if it's just to flip quickly through to look at pictures.

 

Ditto everyone else, it's normal at that age. I second the advice to try short books and would also add that books with robust flaps (ones that are whole-page flaps are good) and/or feely-bits were great at keeping my kids attention when they were your boys' age. All of mine loved the That's not my... series (Eleanor and Ethan still like to look through them) and the DK Peekaboo series have good sturdy flaps as well as textured bits.

 

We are a bit of a book worm family so we have loads of books. But we currently only read two picture books, 101 Animals and 101 things that move! The twins pick the book and that's the only ones they pick. It's just pictures with the labels underneath. We started the twins with a bed time story about a month ago and they love it. The animal one is great because as soon as they get a bit wriggly there is an animal sound that will reel them back in (especially the lion) And it's funny that as soon as I ask them to get their book the older kids are suddenly 'hanging around' Try using your voice to entice them. Loud then quiet. Scary then soft. Singing the words. Good luck.

 

I set up a "routine" before nap and bedtime to read a book for each of them. Somedays they don't pay much attention - we sit on my bed and read, but they'll crawl/run/climb all over or walk around our room. Other days, they love to relax against me and listen. Either way, I just read the story and sing the song. During this time the routine, the repetition of stories, the cadence of my voice, etc are really the important part. We started this when they went down to two naps - so about a year.

I keep more interactive books, like word books and touchy feely books and such, for other times of day, when THEY are the ones actually interested in it. We have a big board book with lots of nice pictures and words in it that they've LOVED since they turned a year, and they bring it to me every day. (Though these days, I'm not allowed to turn away from the page with the "Phone" on it...)

 

I found that it worked better at that age (and we still do it) to sit in front of them and hold the book toward them. Does that make sense? I also didn't really "read" any books at 2. I just started doing that recently where I read the actual words in the book. When they were little, we just pointed to things and talked about what they saw. That's how I taught numbers, letters, shapes and colors was through pointing out things in books.

 

We've read to my girls since they were in the womb! I agree with the other posters, at their age it is normal to not show much interest in it or be distracted. We've always read to the girls before bed, (as well as during the day at times, but always before bed) When my kids were that age we would put them in their cribs and read to them, sometimes children's books and sometimes stuff like Harry Potter! The way I saw it they may not be paying total attention but at least they are still hearing our voices and what we were saying. Now, they are 3 and they love books and being read to. They started being more interested probably around age 2.

 

This is pretty much what we do too.

Like pp have said, I think its an age thing.

My 2 love books and will often come up to me throughout the day with a book they want you to 'read' but to actually get them to sit still long enough to properly read an entire book just doesn't happen.
I find it works better to look at the book with them, pointing out the names of things and maybe shorthanding the story as you go. I might ask them simple questions like "wheres the cat" or "What noise does the car make1" etc.
They love the concept and the closeness of reading but at this age don't have the concentration for proper reading.

 

My boys love reading, but it has been part of the nap and bedtime routine since they were very little. I think we started around 4 or 5 months. They usually get 2 or 3 short books in the rocking chair before going down to sleep. They have started showing a preference for certain books though. They love the Boynton books, rhyming books, and the Eric Carle books. They seem to dislike the books that have lots of random pictures and words (i.e. A to Z or First Words type) but we look at them sometimes anyway. When they don't want or like a book they will close it while we're reading. It's kind of funny, but sometimes it means they don't like a book, and other times it means they are too tired to keep reading. We have 4 Thomas the Train books that I've never read because they try to close them every time.

 

I have also found reading difficult, but we have a routine now. With my older daughter -- now 9 years old -- I would sit on her bed every night and read her a few books, usually three. The last book was always "Goodnight Moon."

With the twins (20 months), I quickly realized as they got older that (a) they would not sit with me and I couldn't hold them and read, and (b) they were more interested in toys than books in the room. So I get their PJs on and put them in their cribs. Then I get a washcloth and their toothbrushes and clean them up while they are standing in the cribs. The last step of the bedtime routine is reading. I sit between their cribs and hold "storytime" -- I read three books, holding the books facing them (mostly I hold them in front of me and read upside down!). The last book is ALWAYS "Goodnight Moon," just like with my daughter. They know the book so well now, and moo when the "cow jumps over the moon," or meow during the "two kittens" part, or say "shhhh" with their fingers to their lips when the "little old lady whispering hush" is mentioned. They know that this book is the last book in the nightly reading adventure. I have been doing this since the could sit up in their cribs.

I'm hoping that as they get a little older, I can coax them into sitting on my lap. That is the only thing that I don't like about my reading time -- I miss having a baby in my lap to read and look at the pictures in the book close-up, but I know in time it might happen.

 

Thanks everyone for all the great tips. We tried each reading them their own book (one with me, one with DH) and it's worked great. I think sharing and not having control over the pages was the problem.... so for now it's separate stories!

 

My sons have actually started crawling toward the books and pulling them out to be read during play time. We read a lot but usually only nap time or bedtime, so I like that they are choosing reading as an activity they want to do when they're awake and alert. They also want to look at books on their own sometimes too.

One of my sons has started copying me by saying "The End" after I do at the end of the book. I thought it was so cute because he really only says a couple of other words, but he seems to understand. It's funny because sometimes when he doesn't like a book we're reading he'll close it and say "The End".

 

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