Do you/did you read and sing to your kids at bedtime, and until what age?

I thought that it was only in movies that parents did that…

My daughters are 34 and 32, and when we’re together I still make up silly stories to tell them. We all enjoy it, and my grandkids are now firm fans of the tradition.

@rock4ever HA! My mom would read aloud to me every night until I was about 15. I smile every time I remember her reading Girl of the Limberlost, Little Women and The Magic Garden. The Magic Garden was my favorite; she’d read it to me every time I was really sick and stuck in bed. When I was about 14, she started me on Shakespeare and my grandmother started me on Dean Koontz, lol.

Gosh I read and sang this to them till they were at least 10…..My youngest still loves this story even though he is almost 12…

Xbox has nothing on a good bed time story!

I was a bad, bad mom. I made them all learn to read young because I didn’t like reading aloud. We did have bedtime rituals.

@Cruiser That story always turns me into an emotional basketcase, lol.

@faye Awww, you’re not a bad mom! Teaching them to read early is great too!!! I’ve been working hard with my wee one this year since since she’ll be starting school in the Fall. She has these cute little “Sam I Am” books with Sam and Matt and Cat and Dog, hehe.

@WillWorkForChocolate I don’t think I ever read it without a tear in my eye!

I’m that way with a lot of books. I even cry during Hallmark commercials sometimes; I’m an emotional prat!

@Cruiser I don’t know how you get through it. I’ve never made it.

@faye They were usually asleep by the end and missed their dad bawling his eyes out! ;)

I sometimes read to my oldest before bed time and I do sometimes sing to my youngest before bed time.

Well, my oldest is 14. He still enjoys being read to at bed time (assuming that the homework is done, etc…). The cool thing is that he is old enough that the stuff we read I also enjoy. The last book was Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut the one before that was The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown.

My youngest is 10 and, of course, he enjoys being read to as well. We’re currently in the middle of The Lost Hero (a sort of continuation of the Percy Jackson series).

I read to each every night until they were in second grade, then they read to themselves. But I sang Sweet Baby James until they were in Middle School.

And they are 15 and 13 now, i still tuck them in every night.

My parents read to me until I moved out of the house. Once I turned…. 8, maybe, they changed from reading a whole book to us to reading a chapter of a classic every night – Heidi, the complete works of A.A. Milne, the whole Little House on the Prairie series, Little Women, Harry Potter (up to #5, the last 2 were published after I moved out), etc. It was a family ritual, much like dinner time or conversing around the fireplace, except where none of us had to actually offer any new material or volunteer information (which is great for when you’re 15 and don’t feel like saying anything more than a grunt to your parents).

My daughters are 10 and 12. My wife or I read to them until they were seven or eight, when they started reading themselves. However, we still sit with them and rub their backs or arms for a few minutes before they fall asleep.

We did do the whole tuck in and talk a few minutes. What do you need to remember for tomorrow often got some frantic last minute stuff!

I will try again since my other response vanished. I always read and sang to my children and continued to read with my son (not all the time) until he was about 15. He won’t read with me now. He is much too cool. I remember driving around NSW on a road trip and my husband and son insisting I read Harry Potter to them, not just in the car but in the evenings. It was funny but sweet too. Reading with our children is one of life’s wonderful treasures.

We’ve always had bedtime rituals, but they’ve changed some over the years. When they were very young, they all used to pile in our bed for bedtime stories (either made up or read from a book) and songs. Then, off to their own beds with a tuck-in.

When my kids are with me, I still chat, snuggle and sing to the oldest (16) and the youngest (13) at bedtime – sometimes accompanied by a back scratch or a little massage, but the middle (15) prefers me to put tiny braids in her hair as she drifts off to sleep. They’re all going to kill me for revealing this, I just know it.

@augustlan Well, you know, they wouldn’t know if you just had the common sense to keep them off of your site…

What is this ‘common sense’ you speak of? ~

I read to the boys until they started to decide they wanted to watch a movie at night instead. It was kind of disappointing for me, but that became their new ritual. I want to say that started around age 8. Not that I’ve ever known them to make it through a movie, anyhow. They are usually zonked out 10 minutes into it.

I have read and sung to both my girls (6 years and 16 months) every night I’ve put them to bed. We all totally adore it.

Only all the time, I do impressions of the characters in the book or whichever song from a movie I sing. Still do it now, although my son (he’s 15) looks a little forlorn XD My daughter however laps it all up :¬)

@augustlan Well, if it will make your kiddos feel any less embarassed, tell them that I’m almost 32, and when I go to my parents’ house, I still sometimes lay across my mom’s lap for a backscratch. Of course, there’s also wine involved and long talks about her grandbabies, but I still dig the backscratches.

Also, Mom occasionally comes to my house and we drink wine, cook a huge meal and sing together. You’re never too old to want backscratches, or to sing with your momma!!

I have always made up silly songs to sing to my kids. Not usually at bedtime, but just around the house. Then I did the same to my granddaughter, who is now 16 and tells me I’m weird. I also sing to my cats. Songs like, “I wanna be loved by Meouwwww!” or “I think I love Meouww.”