Why Mothers Should Read to Their Sons
Even in the middle of the day.
People tend to generalize about boys and reading (and mostly about boys not reading). I have always loved books and began to read board books to my first son while he was nursing. As he grew older, and proved to be extraordinarily active, a book became the one thing that would cause him to come to a stop. My three sons are very different from each other. One loves athletics, and another music and singing. But they always slowed for a book. We not only read at bedtime, but at any time when we needed a pause. Nap-time, of course. But rainy, plodding days, too. Most often, just to sit. Even in the bath-tub.
Reading is a time to explore the world
I never thought I’d find myself reading about the natural animal world; what alligators do with their prey is not particularly calming. But this was my middle-son’s chosen bedtime stories for a very long time. (At least, it felt like a long time.) Did you know that alligators will pin their prey under heavy logs or stones for several days to soften their flesh? I did not need to know that just before falling asleep. But my belief about how reading stretches us, takes us beyond comfort zone, was taken to task on this. At one point my oldest son had memorized every bird in a book about the feathered characters in our…
