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Does your little reader have a favorite nook? (As in a cozy spot to read in and not the e-reader – the latter I guess is more likely.)

Baby Loves Books

Having a special place for reading to your baby is a great way to establish the reading routine and also to get yourself in the reading zone, while getting your baby comfortable and familiar with the idea of being read to. All part of the ‘pleasant association’ technique that works so well in getting your baby to love books from an early age.

But, as your baby turns into an independent kindergärtner, it’s important to update your child’s reading nook and create a space she will continue to love  to read in. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but it helps if it is inspiring and sparks your child’s imagination and kindles her love of reading.

Create Your Child’s Reading Corner Together

Why not enlist your child’s help in designing such a space for her over this summer? Getting her involved ensures that her tastes are incorporated while giving her a sense of pride and ownership over her brand new ‘big girl’ reading nook. It’s also more likely to motivate her to pick up a book and read since after all, she helped design and arrange it herself. A warm and cozy or cool and creative reading spot that’s all hers is a great reason to pick up a book and settle down to read whether your child is home for the summer or has a few minutes to spare before bedtime.

Can you resist cuddling up with a book?

Added Bonuses Of  a Reading Corner

Setting up a reading corner for your child is the best way to pack up and donate old baby books and picture books, rearrange your child’s library and build her organizing skills.

Setting Up The Reading Nook
1. The Book Shelf:
Buy or reuse a child-sized, child-friendly shelf, rack or storage your child can use easily and independently. It could be a multi-shelf storage unit or a cardboard box of books stored under the bed – whatever you and your child decide is best for your reading space. Explore the many ways to arrange her book shelf. At home, we currently arrange books by topic and level of difficulty (‘M can read by herself’ books and ‘M needs a grown up to read to her’ books). You could also arrange by author, title, size, or language depending on what works for you and your tyke. Spend a little time talking about what you’re doing, why you’re organizing, how to maintain a neat and organized shelf, where she should put back books once she’s read them etc.

2. The Reading Chair: (or mat/ bed/bench or laundry basket)
Once your child has picked out a book she wants to read from her brand new shelf, she will need a place to read it in. A comfortable, well lit corner with minimum interruptions and away from distractions such as the TV, Wii etc. Preferably, this reading spot is a little chair, bench, mat, bed or cushion near the book shelf, next to a window or where she gets enough light to read comfortably. It helps if she has a consistent place to sit in and read, but it’s perfectly ok if there isn’t one. Kids and resourceful and will turn laundry baskets, cardboard boxes, unused drawers and floors into perfect reading spots in no time. Do give your child the option to read in an assigned spot each time and also the flexibility to choose another spot if she prefers to. As perfect as M’s reading corner seems to me, with her cozy little Princess chair and book shelf next to it all situated in our wonderfully warm sun room, she often picks a place that’s farthest away from this spot to snuggle up with a book. Her old crib by the window overlooking the swimming pool. Not a bad choice, considering that it gets a lot of sunlight and is way more comfy than Reading corner # 1. She alternates between these 2 spots and it works out just fine. So, figure out our child’s favorite reading spot and make it as inviting as possible for her to read as often as she wants to.

Baby Loves Books

3. Keep it fresh: As lovely as your child’s reading corner may be and as much time and effort you may put into designing it, she will likely outgrow it…before you can heave a satisfied sigh. Whether it’s by rotating her stock of books, or by rearranging the books by difficulty level or some other criteria, or simply by choosing a different reading mat or color and decor for the surrounding walls – update your child’s reading nook every few months to pique her interest in the space and as a result, the process of reading.

4. More than books: Speaking of decor, try various ways to enrich and complement your child’s reading habit, such as by incorporating pictures of children’s authors, her favorite storybook characters, illustrators, word and letter art and photos of her reading with some of her favorite people such as grandma, a cousin, an uncle or you. Paint a wall mural of an enchanting tree, a lakeside bench or a magical forest. Take cues from the children’s section at your local library or book store and make your child’s reading corner a place she just can’t stay away from.

If you enjoy reading to your child and she enjoys reading herself, a reading nook will only make your experience even more wonderful and special. On the other hand, it may be just what you need to draw even a reluctant young reader towards books.

Where do you and your baby read? I’d love to know.

I’ve said it a zillion times and don’t mind repeating…reading to my daughter(and any other child in the vicinity) is among the most enjoyable parenting experiences I know of! Besides talking about it here, I write about it elsewhere too. My latest article on the topic appears on Everythingmom.com – http://www.everythingmom.com/activities/tips-to-make-books-a-part-of-your-childs-life.html.
Please check it out and share your thoughts!

Enrich Your Child’s Reading Experience with Personalized Storybooks 

If you think books about adventures, dinosaurs and princesses make great gifts for kids, then wait till you give a child a book about something(or someone) way cooler …. him!

When I spoke to Maia Haag of I See Me Inc a while ago about personalized books for kids, she brought up an interesting point. When discussing how much kids love books about themselves and characters or people in their lives, she suggested that personalized books help build self esteem in children. Although other children’s books do that as well, when a book’s plot specifically revolves around your child and his life, the adventures or challenges he faces and the people who influence him, it is a very powerful way to impact your child’s thoughts.

I am a big fan of giving personalized kids’ books as gifts.  Whenever there’s an occasion to buy gifts for little nieces, nephews or friends’ kids, I grab the opportunity to hunt for and buy personalized books. I enjoy picking out just the perfect theme, setting or story that suits the little person I’m buying the book for and the whole process of furnishing little details like their names, ages, favorite colors or pets’ names or whatever it is the personalized book creator needs from me in order to create the unique gifts which are sure to be cherished for years.

Besides adding that very personal, special touch there are several other benefits of personalized children’s books -

They’re way more fun – because a personalized book is not about a charming prince fighting a fire-breathing dragon.  It’s about the child who will read it.  And if there’s something that brings more delight to a child while reading than reading a book about him, I’d like to know what it is.
Easy to Understand - Kids find it easy to relate to the incidents and characters in the book.  They’re able to make connections, remember the story better and even grasp its message(if there is one) effortlessly and almost…subconsciously…because, they’re right in the middle of it all.
Reading Motivation - A healthy ego and curiosity can work wonders when you’re trying to get your child to achieve just about anything. I’ve noticed that even babies and kids reluctant to being read to or reading or their own, all of a sudden, start paying attention when you make up a story about them and their friends. Imagine having a book on hand that actually encourages the reluctant reader to pick it up and try to read. Or maybe even just flip through the pages. Reading experts may say you’ve won half the battle if you’ve perked up a child’s interest in reading.
Builds Self Esteem( and other qualities) – If you’ve ever tried to use books as tools to tackle tot troubles, you know how helpful it can be to have a book handy about the situation you’re facing. Be it temper tantrums or sibling rivalry, a thoughtfully penned book is your best friend in getting the message across to your child without him even realizing what you’re doing. And a personalized book dealing with a specific situation or phase that your child is experiencing at the moment can work wonders. One of my little nieces used to be very shy around people, and could not bring herself to perform in front of audiences even though she enjoyed ballet immensely. She loved being a ballerina and twirling around, but would only allow the closest of family to watch her. I bought her a custom storybook about a little ballerina and her friends preparing for a recital as a birthday gift that year. Her mom told me that my niece asked her to read it to her over and over again. She took the book everywhere she went. She showed it off proudly to her ballet instructor. Using the book as an aid, her mom was able to gently nudge her out of her shell and encourage her to open up and share her talents with larger audiences. Her beautiful recital that year is the talk of the family.  So, be it confidence, patience, politeness, honesty, being organized, friendliness or any other quality you want your child to imbibe, a creatively crafted and well-produced personalized storybook is sure to be a great inspiration.
One of a Kind - You can be pretty sure your gift won’t be the one that will get returned to the department store because four other people got the child the same gift for his birthday.
Keepsakes, Memory Keepers, Heirloom – This is my favorite reason for getting kids personalized books as gifts. They stay in the family forever. Tattered, torn maybe, with some pages destroyed beyond recognition, but they’ll be around all right. Not too many people have the heart to discard them. They’re the kind of gifts people talk about at family gatherings and pass on to their children or grandchildren. “Remember that book about the ballerina Aunt Lily gave  me when I was 6?”  And a personalized book serves as  a great item to put in a time capsule or memory box for kids to open many years later. And since there’s bound to be only one of its kind in the whole world,  a personalized book’s sentimental value only multiplies with time. Call me self-indulgent or egoistic…but hey, I want my little nieces and nephews to remember my gift forever. I want to be the aunt who got them the book they still have 20 years later.

How and where to find personalized children’s books

1.Online – I’m sure there are plenty of options out there that a simple internet search for personalized storybooks will spit out. Speaking from personal experience, I’ve purchased from Custom Story Books and I See Me Inc on many occasions. Both offer unique ways to customize your gift. Custom Story Books have a large number of product options to choose from including personalized photo books, personalized photo coloring books, personalized DVDs, name trains and wooden toys. One of the unique aspects of their personalized photo books is that they digitally convert your child’s photo ( which you upload while personalizing), into a painting that blends well with the book’s characters and settings. So, it’s really as if your child is a part of the story.  I See Me offers a fresh perspective to personalized books – the child’s!  Their popular product The World According to (Child) book uses the child’s own imagination, illustrations and answers to various questions to create the final product. In this and a few other products, I See Me engages the child in the book’s creation process, which could be a great family project as well as a way to put your child’s imagination and time to productive use in producing something that he is sure to read, enjoy and be proud of for a long time. I particularly like their My Very Own Name book and floor puzzle, which I think make great gifts for young children learning to spell or read their names. The book, of course, makes a lovely newborn gift as well. Both places offer excellent customer service, timely delivery and the personalization process is fairly easy and enjoyable.

2. Picture or Photo Books – Every drug store or discount store that offers photo printing, also offers several custom photo gifts such as mugs, picture books, clocks, calendars and the like.  To some people, these gifts may seem lame or far too common. After all, haven’t we all received a photo calendar or desk clock at some point?  But I find that creating picture books, especially using captions or a storyline that a child can relate to makes them inexpensive and memorable gifts. Babies love looking at pictures of people, especially people they know. So, next time, maybe skip the photo calendar or clock for the grown-ups. But, go for the picture books with photos of grandma, aunts, uncles and cousins for the baby.

3. Make your own personalized books at home! It doesn’t get any more personal. It doesn’t have to be super-professional. Or it could be, if you like. Just think up your own stories about your kids and other familiar characters. If imagination lets you down, add a new twist to old stories by changing the names and settings. Use family pictures, clipart images, pencil sketches, hand-made drawings, pages from your child’s coloring book or old photographs to illustrate your book. Depending on your skill level and available time, you can make the books as professional-looking as you want.  Involve your child in the process if he is old enough. Ask him to suggest character and place names, and how a story might turn out. Include their doodles in the book. You could either use self-publishing services such as Lulu to publish your book. Or choose a simpler, hand-made, home-made version. 

So there! If there’s a birthday coming up or even if there’s no occasion, but you just feel like indulging a little guy or girl you know, a personalized storybook is sure to win little hearts. And find you a place there even when they’re not so little any more.

If you’re a parent, you probably do laundry, answer the phone, fix dinner and check emails while you settle a sibling fight. Every night.

Multitasking may be the mantra of parenthood . It may seem that juggling multiple things may be the only way to do everything and how you keep your family and work life running.  But, there are times when you just. have.to.stop. And do one thing well.

Recent surveys and studies show that, in fact, multitasking decreases our efficiency and productivity, and we actually end up taking longer to finish a task. The age old way of focusing on one activity at a time and giving it undivided attention not only gets the job done well and on time, but also helps get more done in a given time frame.

That said, it may not be easy to follow. Moms can’t just stop multitasking after doing it for countless generations.

However, when it comes to certain activities and aspects of our lives, I think it is very important that we give them the whole-hearted attention they warrant. With our modern day lifestyles, few of us can afford this luxury. Regardless of our strengths and abilities, it’s as if we must learn to do a hundred things at once, or we fail.  Some of us may thrive on this kind of pressure. It’s as if we don’t know how to do fewer things at a time anymore. But if you’re like me, you like to take things slower. Sure, I can multitask(who can’t?), but I don’t prefer to, sometimes. But I must anyway.

Driving, studying and writing, for example, are tasks which, I like to be 100% focused on. I don’t eat or chat on the phone and can’t change my baby’s diapers while driving(yes, there are supermoms who can, apparently.) Or maybe I can, but really, really don’t prefer to. I can’t stand to have the TV blaring in the background as I try to write or study. Or even think. But I’ve learned to cope.

When it comes to reading to my daughter though, it’s a whole other issue.

Reading to Baby – Do Not Disturb

While we’re reading, I’m not sure who among the two of us is less tolerant of interruptions. The margin is likely to be very slim.

You see, I consider reading with my daughter ‘our time’. It’s the only time she’ll agree to snuggle up these days. (These impossible 3 year olds!) Pretty much the only time when we don’t argue, “But why?”,” But I like it,”, “No!” or have a negotiation session that would put world leaders to shame.

Reading time is when my daughter and I are in sync.

And I’m pretty sure, that for those few minutes, there’s almost nothing on the planet that’s more important. And even if it is, it can wait. M won’t.

So, I like to make the best of those few minutes every chance we get. Which isn’t as much as it used to be.

But even if it’s just 5-10 minutes, I think that setting that time aside just to read with your baby and do nothing else during that time is critical.

Why it’s important to separate reading time from other activities -

• It sends your child the message that reading time is special.
• That Mommy or Daddy thinks it’s so important, they don’t allow interruptions. Even from other grown-ups.
• And more than anything else, without interruptions or distractions to dilute the joy of reading together, you and your baby truly experience the beauty of the moment and the process.

So, it doesn’t matter whether you read for 5 minutes or 50, whether it’s bedtime or before-you-rush-out-to-work time.

When you’re reading to baby, read. Don’t text. Or answer the phone. Or check the oven. Or stir the pot. Check emails. Engage in a conversation with someone else. Or do anything that takes away from the magic of those few moments.

When you’re reading to your baby, let it be just you and her. Let the rest of the world fade away. Focus on reading, pointing to pictures and words, asking questions, answering questions, making eye contact, sharing a joke or a funny moment, reassuring your baby if she’s disturbed, loving the moment, enjoying the book and savoring the experience you share with your baby.

When you read to your baby, give it your all. Be present 100%.

Soon, it will be over. And you can go back to being supermom.