Saturday's Read to Baby Tip 1

Enjoy Family Story Time

Story time at book store - Fancy Nancy's Splendiferous Christmas

As you can probably tell, I am a big fan of story time sessions at the library and reading events for kids at book stores. I have always loved spending time around books, although I am no voracious reader by any stretch of imagination. Mostly, I just end up staring at all the wonderful books that I don’t make time to read. In my defense- I have been too busy reading hundreds of picture books, baby board books and bedtime stories( hey, they count too!!) to my daughter the past 3 years, when I’m not attending to her other needs or trying to make the most of her terrible two’s and three’s and other stages in between that well-meaning people assure me are temporary phases. But, I digress. As I was saying…
I especially like having the option of taking M to story time during the winter months, when playing outside or going for a walk are ruled out on most days. And what makes these trips more enjoyable is when we go out as a family on weekends and come back with something other than mall shopping bags full of stuff we don’t really need.

Story time – Something for Everyone

So, we’re just back from a Saturday morning story time session at Borders to celebrate the arrival of Fancy Nancy’s Splendiferous Christmas – the latest book in the series.  And, I just have to say, I think this is my favorite way to start the weekend. No, not by reading a Fancy Nancy book every Saturday, (not that there would be anything wrong with that!), but – a family trip to the local book store.

Here’s why.

Surrounded by books and other kids, M almost forgets to whine, nag and throw a tantrum for those 45-60 minutes. Taking full advantage of the situation, my husband and I enjoy a cuppa whatever we feel like, while browsing through some of our favorite reading sections. When story time’s about to start, we all settle down close to each other – M eager as always to be read to.  They usually have crafts and a snack for kids at the end of the session and today, they wrapped it up with a raffle draw and some cool giveaways for kids.

Kids enjoy crafts before and after story time

So, at the end of the hour – what do we have? One happy, super-charged 3 year old with a bag of goodies to keep her occupied on the ride back home. A Fancy Nancy story to talk about later ( and probably bring home some time). And a pair of rested, grown-ups with caffeine in their system, who didn’t have to deal with a tantrum for one whole hour. (If you have a 3 year old, you know how huge that is.)

Nothing to complain about.  Now, that’s what I call a family happy hour.

Borders store employee reading to babies and kids