By Mister Wilson-Cory The Caterpillar Children’s Books
https://www.corythecaterpillar.com
For as long as anyone who’s alive today can remember, parents have read stories to their children at bedtime. Many who still read bedtime stories may be just continuing a familiar custom or tradition. Few have paused or stopped to think what good is produced by this last parenting act of the evening.
Reading to children at any point during the day or night can only be thought of as great. So why would reading to them at bedtime be any different? Well, any parent or surrogate knows all to well that children’s bedtimes are not the easiest or simplest task of the day. This is true even if they have frazzled every nerve in their body all day long.
Oh no, the challenges children present don’t abruptly end with the announcement of bedtime. In some cases, getting children to bed may be the most intense and condense challenges of the entire day. The children may be near total exhaustion from a full day of climbing, falls, bumps and boo-boos when bedtime arrives. But if it were left up to them, they would rather fall asleep on their own into a pile of toys. Many children feel violated when told its bedtime and become resistant to the thought of going to bed. Despite being overly tired they can become very sad or even begin acting out when bedtime is announced. Even the offer of a bedtime story may be interpreted as a low-ball bride or cheap trick to get them to go to sleep.
When the bedtime story is instituted, some amazing things become possible. First, the children are calmed down by the thought that someone else other than them are being forced to go to the bedroom. I guess in some sort of misery loves company scenario. Second, the anxiety that children may feel about being isolate, alone or in the dark is drastically reduced by the offer of the company of a storyteller. Third, The start of the story helps the children to begin to refocus upon what the story may hold. Fourth, the story creates an atmosphere that allows the children and their bodies to relax and remember that they really are near total exhaustion. Fifth and final, regardless of if the children remain awake through the reading or not, they are given a pleasant send off to dreamland.
In subsequent times when bedtime is announced and a bedtime story is offered, the children may conclude that the attached story is a good and worthy reward to close out the day. Children will begin to look forward to and even request that a regular story be read to them at bedtime. Reading books to children at bedtime may also turn the last moment of the day into true quality time for all involved. Far more great benefits may be possible with a regular commitment to reading children bedtime stories. Written by Mister Wilson-Cory The Caterpillar Children’s Books
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