Story Time

After my talk with the Health Visitor the other week and the article on BBC news online about how children's books are being ousted by DVD's (apparently 1 in 20 homes has less then 10 books in it!) it just made me sad that children are going to school not knowing what how to open books and not understanding the magic stories can bring.

I love to read, before BG I could easily devour a book in a day (I read the last Harry Potter book in 8 hours!). I love the way you can escape into a story and forget about whats going on in the real world. A great story will transport to where ever in the world it is set, you can smell the same smells and hear all the sounds, you can picture every last detail.

We always had loads of books at home when I was growing up, both my mother and father love to read and me and my sisters have that same passion for books. We share books, recommend books and buy them for each other.

Some of my favourite stories are from childhood books, Hedi is my favourite book but I will in all honesty read almost anything!.

Me and OH started to read to BG before she was born, we read 'Guess how much I love you?' to my bump for months and we carried on reading it to hear once she was born. Amongst her first presents where many books from my dad and sister including 'The very hungry Caterpillar' which I love. BG has a good collection of books at only 10 months old, in fact she has about 30!

BG has recently become obsessed with books, an obsession that makes me really happy. In the last few weeks BG has allowed me to sit and read stories to her again. She went through a stage, that when ever I got a book out she would just try to eat it, a phase I've been ensured most children go through! But now she will sit and sometimes I get to read the whole book before she rips it from my hands.

If I say to her "BG bring the book to mummy and I'll read you a story", she's crawls over with a book and a big smile on her face and climbs up for a story.

However my favourite thing is when she sits on the floor with a book in her hands and flicks through the pages by herself, it can keep her occupied for a good 5 mins! The look on her face is priceless.

I hope BG always has a passion for books, I can't wait to read her my favourite children's books like 'The Magic Faraway Tree' and all the old fairytales.

I would hate if TV or computers became more important then reading, books are great for the imagination and that's what children should have!

NM X