For the longest time, my mom would always read to us before bedtime. Her parents did it to her. Her grandparents did it to her parents. It’s almost like a tradition of being a kid. My mom would read to us a wide array of things, most of which were either books filled with short stories, or the Series of Unfortunate events. My favorite part of the day was always listening to my mom read. It was relaxing, it made me giggle, get excited, or in some cases get scared. It even helped put 7 year old me to sleep, and I know it did the same for my brothers.
We would be tucked under the covers of our bed, warm and sleepy, and my mom would sit in the middle of the room, book in hand, turning to all of us as she read. Our stuffed animals by our side incase the story got scary for us. She would often pause her readings for us, incase we had questions, or she wanted to add a personal note. She might have been reading a story to us but she seemed to be looking more for a way to connect to us. Me and my brothers would always exchange looks when the story got excited, or giggles when the book made us laugh. Reading to us before bedtime always brought everyone together.
My mom would never read to us too much, and it was for good reason. She always wanted to keep our interest high, never reading too much that we got bored, pausing on cliff hangers to save for another night so that we would spend all day looking forward to it. She knew how to do it perfectly so that we would develop a love for reading and books, and it worked. I think the tradition of reading to your kids at night being passed down from generation to generation really worked.
Regardless, reading to us at night wasn’t just something that made us happy, it was something that gave us a genuine love for reading and literature. Learning how to read meant that we could provide ourselves with the excitement of books and stories, and we could share with each other what we had read that day, or talk to our mom about it. Reading allowed me another output for fun and happiness in my young life, and it is something that I still carry with me today.
