When your child asks to read the same book. Every. Single. Night.
We’re in a phase at the moment, where my favourite question during bedtime, “What shall we read tonight?” now fills with me deep, deep dread. It’s not the first time this phase has reared its repetitive head either. I think we read ‘Rainbow Rob’ for three months straight at one point, and this is still a favourite that we still get out from time to time. I obviously don’t need to read this now, as the words are carved into the deep recesses of my brain like the words on a stick of rock.
I think we read ‘Rainbow Rob’ for three months straight at one point, and this is still a favourite that we still get out from time to time. I obviously don’t need to read this now, as the words are carved into the deep recesses of my brain like the words on a stick of rock.
‘Rainbow Rob’, Priddy Books
‘On The Go’, Priddy Books
Before that, there was ‘On The Go’ which was the book of the moment during teething and a phase of nightmares, so some nights I read this over five or six sittings. Over time and desperation to add variance to our routine, we wrote our own words and actions for each turn of the page and each flap lifted - which, now looking back, was quite fun.
For now though, every night, the answer to ‘What shall we read tonight?’ is the same book. “Sleepytime,” they say. Even when it is my littlest one’s turn to pick the bedtime story, they choose the same book too, perhaps to please their older sibling or because they have been conspiring together like a dangerous little duo, or maybe they have been conditioned and brainwashed into believing that that book is the only story that exists at that time of day. It’s hard to say at this point. The truth is probably a combination of all three.
I am long past being able to pretend to be excited about reading ‘Sleepytime’ every night now, though it is such a lovely book and I am a huge fan of Bluey. There’s a part of the story where Bluey asks for water and because of this, we now have to take water up to bed, lest we get to this part of the story and then they DEMAND water until we had to go back downstairs to get water and by the time we returned upstairs they are either wrestling or chasing each other up and down the landing.
‘Bluey, Sleepytime’, by Joe Brumm,
Ladybird Books
Every night, I passionately present two or three new books that we might read at bedtime. My success rate is probably a mere 20% as we end up reading ‘Sleepytime’ again. Or often, we compromise (much to the chagrin of my eldest who voices their objections loudly whilst attempting to do a forward roll) so we read one of the books I’ve picked out and then ‘Sleepytime’. My faint hope here is that a new book peaks their interest to replace and become the new book we read every night, to offer relief from the monotony for at least three days.
Between adding voices, actions, jokes and questions about the pictures to add variety, I often comfort myself with the number of benefits that reading the same book over and over again has for toddlers and young children. It helps improve their vocabulary, comprehension and confidence. According to some research, it can take young children three or four times of reading the same story for it to sink in, so it is important to embrace the repetition, though it is very difficult to do this sometimes, especially on the thirtieth reading.
Some of my favourite things to do to add a bit of variety to a
re-reading:
*Add in actions and jokes. For my two, there is always something they find funny about the story, and I try and make a point of giggling every time.
*Ask them about the pictures, get them to explain what they can see, or count various objects on the page.
*If they know the story well, pause at certain points and get them to join in with the story telling. My two enjoy correcting me when I read the wrong word out, also lets me know that they’re still listening!
*Where possible, I ask them questions about how the characters are feeling, how they would feel and relevant, relating parts of the story to things that have recently happened in their lives.
By rereading, I hope what I am doing is making the act of books and reading together a safe and comfortable space; a habit that they can return to and find joy, happiness, comfort, learning and peace as they grown older. Most of all though, them wanting to read a bedtime story with them isn’t going to last forever, and this is the main thought that gets me through reading the same book for, what feels like, the MILLIONTH time.
