Oh! The joy of having your child run to you with her favorite book, asking you to read to her! Priceless!
But it wasn't always like this, even 2 months back. It took a lot of work on myself to get here.
I come from a family of readers. My favorite childhood memories involves books - coming home to a set of Famous Five series from mom, to being presented with my cousin's dog eared copy of Pride and Prejudice, my very first novel. The place I grew up in had this quaint little library which was our (my sister and my) favorite haunt. I remember saving my pocket money, only to spend it all at the Annual book fair and never felt bad about it! Alhamdulillah, we had supportive parents who nurtured our love for reading. Needless to say, this was something I was looking forward to to bring into my own little family.
But things changed completely once my daughter was born. Feeding and putting Amina to sleep took priority over everything else and the little time I did get for myself was spent catching up on sleep. It took a while to learn the ropes. But by 6 months things started getting better. And that's when I introduced her to books.
I bought those classic Ladybird books where the baby could touch and feel textures. I was pretty excited about the whole thing. But Amina wasn't. She would just turn her head away. It didn't trouble me much in the beginning, but as her disinterest continued, I did begin to worry. And all those articles and posts flooding my feed on how it is important to read to kids and blah..blah..did nothing ease me. I actually thought I was failing in my motherly duty!
But little did I know that the problem was very much close to home. You see, children observe and imitate us a lot. We are their first role models. Amina too noticed and imitated me. And that's when I realized that she never actually saw me reading a book. Yes, I did read to her, but never sat and read a book for myself. Since becoming a mother, it had been a very long time since I read a book. Any reading was done on the phone. So why would she be interested in something her mom didn't do? It was time I changed that habit and here's what I did.
I selected a book from my ever-growing collection of unread books and resolved to read atleast a page daily. And for those of you who read, it is difficult to stop with just a page, right? I made sure to read where Amina could see me too. I also started reading to her at a set time everyday. Morning, after breakfast and in the evening. I would animate my voice, act, sing and point out things she knew. I didn't expect anything from her. I just did my thing. And slowly she started participating herself. She would point out things when I said the word, laugh at some pictures and even repeat some sounds after me! And man was I happy! I took it a step further and would allow her to select the book herself. That way she knew she had a choice and I too learnt what she likes. All this put together has helped in establishing her love for books.
Slowly, but surely, we have both started getting on the habit I never realized I had let go. I try adding to her collection of books whenever I can. She has her favorites now too! And it's always lovely to see her come sit next to me with her books. I can't wait to take her on all the adventures I went on when I was child, between the pages of my favorite stories!
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