Reading the same books...

Meghan - posted on 02/08/2011

Thanks for all the ideas ladies, but as I said this was MONTHS ago lol. I am going to lock it, if anyone is going through the same thing and wants some more ideas, let me know and I can unlock it :) Thanks again!

Alexis - posted on 02/07/2011

choose two or three books that you would like to read and then give him the choice from those three. That way he feels he still has a choice. Another option, depending on your son, is give him the book he wants to look through while you read another one. I do this simply because my son wants to interact with one book while I read another. It may work in your situation, it may not, just an idea.

Jess - posted on 02/04/2011

Ava has only just starting liking books. Until about a month ago she would refuse to sit still even to read 1 page. Then I bought her a little book pack of "In the night garden" books and she is always carrying one around ! She gets 1 book before bed because at 18 months thats enough for her. At the moment we are reading books about love. Trying so hard to teach her how to say Love you !!!

Kelly - posted on 02/01/2011

Having read more of your posts, I must share that J's fave was Fox in Socks by Dr.Suess for like 3 months--it was the ONLY book he would let me read, and we read it about 4 times a day.....Not only that, but it is a PAIN to read out loud because it is rather long, and the whole thing is a giant tongue twister :P

Kelly - posted on 02/01/2011

Don't pack them up! They LOVE the repetition at that age, he gets a little boost because he knows what is going to happen. I know it seems silly, but little kids get a huge fulfillment out of being able to "predict" how a story will go.

I know it's annoying, but keep reading them.....on the plus side, soon you will have read them so much that you can thing about something completely different (and hopefully interesting) while you recite the book :)



Reading the same books over and over also helps develop certain parts of their brain...I don't have the info now, but I'll look for it if I have time (and energy) tonight after J is asleep.....and is actually very good for them.



EDIT: I totally did not see the date on this, and obviously didn't go back to read the posts until after I posted :P Sorry!

Meghan - posted on 01/31/2011

haha this was months ago...I am laughing at myself now. Wow, my biggest issue back then was repetition...seems so silly compared to the cheeky mouth off and stubbornness.

JuLeah - posted on 01/31/2011

Yup, they want the same book and the same song and the same pj's, and the same .... again and again and again

Anna - posted on 01/28/2011

Try and have more than one favourite. I have found that i have had to put book away too... but never alllllll of them at once, just the one that is getting on ya nerves and it hasnt hurt my 2 year old.


i have a laminator and have made some books with pictures of my son and things we have done. Easy to rotate, they love the photos and you can look back and reminisce. 'Our train day' eg 'one day mummy and daddy were bored' 'We went to the train station' is now 6 months old and my son looks sooo different but i love reading it because it is picutes of our family.

you can make it in word using digital photos and there is usually a function on ya printer setting that lets you print it like a book....

Amy - posted on 05/02/2010

I know it is a little crazy for us to have to do, but it is a vital part of his early literacy. These repeated books help him to feel confident in participating and kids enjoy knowing what comes next in the story. It builds his early phoenomic awareness and later reading skills. Eventually he will move on and choose a few more books to read OVER and OVER! Stick with it Mom! It really is worth it in the long one for your son.

Nikki - posted on 05/02/2010

I love brown bear! I feel your pain there are quite a few books I can recite from memory after reading them a thousand times! It is quite a good thing however, children learn through repetition and it's great he has such an interest so young.

Meghan - posted on 05/01/2010

oh Erin, we are so together on this one! Joshua has an order that everything NEEDS to be read in! It's almost like OCD! (We always joke and say that about him-even though it really isn't a funny thing! He needs to have all the doors in the house closed, he needs his exact same night time routine like to minute (almost as if he can tell time), he needs to eat and snakc at the same time everyday...maybe mommy shouldn't have inforced a schedule SO much..)

Erin - posted on 05/01/2010

Milla does this too and it drives me mad lol!! I will read it twice in a row, and then make her choose something else. It seriously does my head in. She also knows if I try and cheat by skipping pages so that doesn't work. Bugger...

Honestly, I know it's a good thing that she's so interested in reading. She will often sit for 15-20mins 'reading' the same book (probably the only time she's EVER still). She remembers which books are where, so if I say 'Go and get the butterfly book and Mummy will read it to you' she does. She recognises the pictures as balls, dogs, ducks, bikes etc, which I know has come from the repetition. But seriously... I am not reading the same book 744156 times IN A ROW!!!

Meghan - posted on 04/27/2010

oh God, he finally just got off of Brown Bear!! He does read on his own quite often too which is really cute to watch. I try to make it interactive...he knows all the words becasue if I try to skip a page or word he get's mad a flips back a page lol. 1 of the books is a book of just words and alot of the other times rather than reading I ask him where certain things are and what certain animals say-that helps a little. I love the idea about a special book about him Kimbeley! My mom bought him one of those read and speak books...he doesn't like it though, I think he would rather hear my voice and interact with me. Sigh...guess I should just enjoy it while I can huh?

Nicole - posted on 04/27/2010

*giggles*
You're getting off lucky with only 3 times!!

And I might have "hidden" Brown Bear Brown Bear for two weeks and Dr. Seus's Alphabet is making a strong contender to be the next book "hidden"
Say it with me now "Big A, little a, what begins with A? Aunt Annie's Alligator A a A"
((I can do the whole book now from memory. It scares me))

Just don't take all the favourites away at once. Rotate them one at a time out with a new book.
Try and go with what interests your child. We found that if we switched out the Brown Bear book with another book with a bear in it, William didn't ask for Brown Bear 5 times a day. And Eric Carle and Bill Martin Jr made a series of books along the same lines of Brown Bear so now he has several to choose from instead of just Brown Bear Brown Bear what do you see we now have Panda Bear and Polar Bear, and Baby Bear. My husband hates the repetitiveness of those books and of course William loves it.

I have many books memorized now because it seems that some books are not just William's favourites, but are also the day care kids favourites.
I can recite several stories forwards and backwards now because I was reading them about 15 times a day.
And I just can't say no when it comes to reading books to the kids.
We started reading to William at 3months old.
And some mornings I go in to get him up to find him wide awake and surrounded by every board book he owns (about 25 on his shelf in his room) on his bed "reading"

I love the fact that our children want to be read to and they have favourites. And that they are interested in "reading" to themselves. It's a great positive start on the road to learning to read.

We have a new bedtime story rule that William gets to pick a book (generally one of the favourite been read a hundred times books) and Mommy or Daddy get to pick a book (always something different then the well read favourites).
We found this has expanded his list of favourite books and I am no longer reading certain books 10 or more times a day between him and the day care crew.

Now I just need to finish paying the library back the very large fine we incurred by accident (I honestly didn't know the book was IN the couch) and they failed to notify me that it was long over due and then we can start going to the library again to get more variety. I wish I could buy as many books as I want, but the reality is, books are pricey when on a strict budget.

Jaime - posted on 04/27/2010

Gray is starting to pick out his favourite books now too. And at this point I am just in awe of his joy because he has one particular book that just makes him laugh. The book is called "I Love You Through and Through" and the little boy in the story actually reminds me of Gray. When I read it I interact with Gray (tickle his feet, tug his ears when the book talks about body parts) and I think he is actually starting to remember what the book is about because I can't even get the book open before he starts giggling.

I try to pick one different book and two familiar books every time I read to him, that way he has repetition and something new...kind of a balance of both I guess.

Charlie - posted on 04/27/2010

You know when i was teaching i could read all of the Dr. Seuss books with the pictures facing the children without looking at one word !!

Chatty - posted on 04/27/2010

LOL! Now I know it's fate......Roxanne is the exact same way! Awwww



This one time (at band camp) I read her the same book 14X and as a result now I know all the words so I just let her turn the pages as she pleases while I just recite it to her......she LOVES it!



You may want to try and encourage some different books.....GOOD LUCK!

Kimbeley - posted on 04/27/2010

Blake is exactly the same, his two favourites at the moment ('Ten in the Bed' and 'Walking through the Jungle') he can actually "read" (hahaha, in other words, you catch one clear word in each sentence... "asit gobna kdjf iojb Jungle" lol). If I have to hear "there were ten in the bed and the little one said..." again, I will probably join you in the snap-ping.

Okay, so the advice...
* How about video-taping (if you have a camera) you reading the book to him... then you can stick it on for him to watch over and over again while you lock yourself in a soundproof room lol.
* Introduce new books at 'special' times, when the favourite books aren't around (eg. maybe while you're out somewhere or while he's eating). That way, it's a treat to have ANY book, so it hopefully won't matter that it's not the favourite book.
* Encourage him to start "reading" (I use that term very loosely because I don't want to be yelled at)... for example, read all of the sentence except for the last word and get him to fill in the blank (even if it doesn't really sound like what it's supposed to).
* Read the pictures, rather than the words. This will change the story a little bit so that you don't feel like a broken record.
* Get a book made of Joshua - photos, people in his life, etc. Blake loves that he has a book with everyone he loves in it.

Hope those help a little bit. Personally, as frustrating as it is, I probably wouldn't pack up those books as it's such a great thing that he has this interest in them! Or maybe just pack them away for a few hours?

Charlie - posted on 04/27/2010

LOL Cooper is the same he loves story time , you know as annoying as it is it can be much more beneficial to read the same books as apposed to different ones all the time as they familiarize and learn words quicker .