In all families have rituals. In our family, it was customary to read bedtime stories. My son goes to bed, I opened the book - and the magic begins.
The first books of the child were thin in soft binding, and in each of them there was a separate fairy tale with colorful illustrations. Perhaps the crumb at first was still too small to follow the plot. But for me it was a great opportunity to recall childhood and fairy tales, which I once loved, but already forgot.
When the baby grew up, reading books for the night turned into a mutual pleasure. The child independently chose the fairy tale that he wanted to hear. He handed me the right book, and I began to read. Listening to a fairy tale, the kid got acquainted with literature, developed imagination, and his mother seemed to return for a while to a cloudless childhood, in which there were no worries.
“Gingerbread Man”, “Teremok”, “Masha and the Bear” - the child listened to these fairy tales familiar to all dozens of times. At first I read them with rapture, savoring painfully familiar lines. Gradually, the tales replaced the son's lullabies. I took the book, started reading - and after 15 minutes the child was already snoring sweetly. At first I was touched, but then it became annoying, I thought: “How can you sleep when you read such an interesting book?”
Gradually, while reading fairy tales and poems, questions and unsaid phrases began to appear. This was no longer my monologue, but our dialogue with the child. I began to ask my son: “Where has Little Red Riding Hood gathered? What's in her basket? Can you find a magpie and a jug in the picture? ” So the ritual reading of fairy-tale books became a didactic activity. Even the simple plots “Ryaba Chicken” and “Turnip” raise a huge number of questions: “From whom did the gingerbread man escape? Who did he get to? What did grandfather plant? Who pulled the turnip? "...
Discussion of illustrations is a great opportunity to talk about a fairy tale and its characters, about how a child and mother imagined heroes, whether the artist painted them correctly. So the child will get acquainted with the colors, shapes, perspective, and also learn the meaning of new words and terms.
Starting to read a new fairy tale, invite the child to come up with what will happen next. Let him look at the pictures and imagine what kind of character each character has — one of them will turn out to be good, and which one will be a villain.
How long to read a bedtime story depends on many factors - on how much parents have free time, and on the inner mood of the child. Start by discussing the plot, the characters. Then go on to reading. You can interrupt to discuss any issues. If the child is not ready to talk or does not feel very well, do only reading.
The best books for the baby are classics that have been tested for decades: Russian folk and foreign tales by the brothers Grimm, Andersen, Charles Perrault, Hoffmann ...
Children quickly get used to bedtime stories, and then they can’t do without this ritual.The baby can lie in bed for a long time and wait until mom puts the youngest child to bed and comes to read him a book. But, having heard his favorite lines, he falls asleep after 5 minutes.
Listening to fairy tales, the child not only gets acquainted with the classic children's literature, but also calms down. Reading before bedtime is the natural ending of the day. It is important to choose optimistic and not too "terrible" tales.
Still reading books before bedtime is a great incentive for the baby to have supper faster, put down scattered toys, brush his teeth and go to bed without whims.
We also read:
- The effect of fairy tales on child development
- What is better for the child - to read fairy tales or listen to them in audio performance
- Personalized fairy tales - what kind of fairy tales are these. What are their advantages and differences from ordinary fairy tales
- "Bedtime story" or why gadgets can not replace the child's book?
