Reader Question: Creating a Love of Reading

I started reading Babybug with my infant at 1 month. As she has settled down, I am making this part of her nightly routine (she is 3 1/2 months now). She likes the pictures and snuggling up to read. Should I limit how much we read each night? Should I read the same story several times? I am a middle school teacher and want to create the love for reading with my daughter.

Also, my husband is German and I recently went on a search for baby books in German. They are VERY expensive so I have tried to get titles that I know I can get in English as well. Do you know of a Babybug-like book in German?

Also, any good scales for free to track my child’s development? When I practiced Audiology, I used the Elm scale, but it is not free. Would like to monitor her development, but since returning to work I have not had the time to research this. I am currently a SPED teacher.

Your daughter is learning the most important lessons possible about reading: She’s discovering that reading is an activity that is not only enjoyable and satisfying, but that the important grown-ups in her life also find valuable.  It sounds like you are sensitive to your baby’s reactions and have noticed that she already enjoys the pictures and the snuggling that accompany reading. Continue to watch how she responds. Doing so is the best way to determine how long to make a reading session last—within your own time constraints, of course. You’ve probably noticed that BABYBUG suggests finger plays and movement activities to enrich reading time as your child grows older, but right now the quiet time together sounds ideal.  As for reading the same story again and again, babies do thrive on repetition, so continue to repeat her favorites while introducing new selections.

If you can find an inexpensive German version of Mother Goose, it would be both familiar to you and similar to a number of the selections in BABYBUG.

One of the very best resources for infant development is the National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families. You might want to explore the Early Development part of the Behavior and Development section at their website, www.zerotothree.org. It’s free–and reliable!

-Sally Nurss

You can ask Sally your own questions here, or in the comments.

June 16, 2011. Mother Goose, Parenting Tips, Reader Questions.