To Be A Bookworm Or Not?

I love reading. Story books, interesting blogs and only articles in the newspaper that interests me. I am not an avid reader though because I don't fill my house with books and read one book after another. Maybe that's because I don't have the opportunity. Time is not in favour with me when my hands are full once I reached home. My mom told me that when I was a child, I loved to browse through story books and my kindergarten teachers also noticed that and made a comment in my report card.

Now that I have children of my own, I would also want them to love books. I hope they can be bookworms la but I'm not asking them to be nerds. LOL. I've read from parenting websites or magazines that we can actually start introducing reading to our child as early as 0 months! But I was thinking crazy la. As if the baby would give a damn and I'll be like an insane person trying to read to a baby who can't even see things clearly at 0 months. But it seems it can be done and it's probably just to introduce books and cultivate the reading habit in our child.

The most recent picture I have of her reading.

And so I was quite gung ho about it and being a first time mom before Joseph came along, I started quite early (considered early la by my standards). I read to Elizabeth I think at the age of 6 months. I read to her pop-up books and lift-the-flap books to make it more interesting and encourage her to interact. You can imagine the joy I had when after a few times she was able to anticipate the right time to lift the flap herself after I finish a sentence. I usually read to her before bedtime and it became a routine. So I'm not surprised that she loved reading books. These days, I still read to her before bedtime and ever since she started kindy she can recognise many words and finish reading a book by herself. She was the top reader in her class last year. I hope she will maintain it this year. :) Somehow, I've noticed she became a little lazy recently and only read before bedtime. Thanks to the idiot box! I guess consistency is the key and we must continue to introduce new books to maintain interest. I do buy books but not all the time. My house have no space for too many books and I will be poorer la. Fortunately, we have the national library and I'm a regular there. ;)

Now with Joseph it was a bit tricky. Lets admit it. After being promoted to a second time mom, we can get a little lazy due to age and limited time. We're aging and have less energy. We have two children to divide attention now and it comes with even more chores to do. After doing all that sometimes we have no energy to pick up a book and read to them. You just want to rest and take a breather for a while. Many excuses and reasons huh? But it's true. Maybe I did a mistake or maybe he's just a boy. I started later reading to Joseph. Probably after 6 months but before he was 1 year old. I did the same thing but wasn't that consistent. Sometimes I miss a day or two. He was quite interested but he was also interested in turning the page so quickly! LOL. Maybe boys have shorter attention span.

Imitating the way I read to him by pointing at the words.

Relieved to finish a book? LOL

Aiyah..have to read some more?

These days, I tried to be consistent and read to him everyday. The difference I noticed between the both of them is that sometimes I have to drag him for reading time but not with Elizabeth. I have to read faster with Joseph before he shifts his attention. He can't wait to turn the page and he is more in control rather than me. After finishing a book, he won't browse the book again for long. When Elizabeth was his age, she used to browse quite long until I had to snatch the book away from her because I want her to go to sleep. So will he love books as much as his sister and become a bookworm? I can only cross my fingers.