Reading to Two (or More)

How – and What – to Read to Siblings

Everyone knows that reading out loud is one of the greatest gifts you can give your children. Sharing stories as you cuddle together develops language skills at the same time it strengthens family bonds. It is hard to imagine a more perfect and pleasurable parent-child activity … until a new sibling comes along!

Suddenly, the activity that was once the calmest of the day is turned into a circus, the parental lap into a battle zone. One child tires of the book and wanders into trouble; another demands you read a different story; there doesn’t seem to be a book that suits the ages of each of your children. How can you do it?

As with so many of the challenges of parenting, the answer is part creativity, part determination and part learnable skills.

Be an Expressive Reader

The most obvious solution is dividing and conquering: finding some time each day for the more complicated books your older children require, and asking your older children to amuse themselves while you read the simpler books to the younger ones.

But, as we all know, dividing our children is not usually possible, and the challenge stands: How do you keep children of different ages interested in the same book?

The most effective solution is more dynamic, engaging reading, according to experts. Reading out loud well not only makes reading more pleasurable to a single child, but can make it possible to hold the attention of children of different ages. The techniques used by preschool teachers and library storytime readers everywhere are easily within the reach of all parents.