My daughter is a ‘bed-time is story-time’ addict. She cannot go to sleep until she has me read her a story every night. I must say reading stories to your children is a great way to grip their minds and light up their imagination. I usually read out the classic fairytales to my daughter, who is four, and she is all ears through the read – it takes her to a world of fantasy – until she drools and falls asleep – who knows she probably meets her favorite characters in her dream! What makes it funnier is that her little brother who is two is following in her footsteps. So while he doesn’t understand most of what is being read out, he protests even when I pause for a moment. He whimpers, “Read on!” and I melt at his naivete.
I guess bedtime story reading has been passed down to me by my mother who inducted me into it when I was a child. It has left an indelible impact on me. It not only shaped my personality but also bonded me with my mother in a unique way. Perhaps there is an anticipation of the “tradition” that my mother created. Perhaps it is going to be carried forward through my children.
No wonder, kids’ room is chock-a-block full of fairy accessories – wings, magic wands, a crown, Cinderella’s glass slippers, a fairy godmother, elf-toys and so much more – we are only short of a pumpkin carriage I guess. Amidst all this, I would barely find room to stack up the new additions to kids’ library!
Each time there is a new publication of the same story she encounters, she would demand it. So I would have ten books on Rapunzel alone, for instance. But we can’t keep kids in denial, especially when these lovely story books serve as a decent bribe! So here, I yield, go on piling…I’m afraid, if the Jack and Bean Stalk story were true, the books would begin to touch the skies.
Instead I found a more suitable alternative that saved our day. I found Kindle. Here’s why I totally love this stuff. You could access a library of stories for kids, yet not worry about your child scribbling over the pages, making cut-outs of the colourful characters or run a total ruin of the books! No longer do you have to control your kids about making a mess of the pages. Plus, there is no such thing as space-constraint. It’s portable, so you can carry it just about anywhere and read out stories to your children. It works especially well when you are one of those who wants to travel light.
I give it a five on five. My kids too are in love with Kindle. They love me reading on it. Their story-times are invariably becoming Kindle-story-time.
