Reading Aloud to Children: Modeling and Bonding

This is a story I share with all my Montessori parents and colleagues when I hear them say “But my son / daughter / student is old enough to read alone. I don’t need to read to them aloud anymore”.

My son’s love for reading began the day he was born. As a young mother, I read novels as I nursed my infant son. As he grew older, I found myself unable to read while I nursed because he started playing with the pages. I read to him before nap time and bed time. I remember reading Anne of Green Gables aloud to him after dinner as he bounced in his “bouncy seat”. About the time he was 9 months old, I remember calling to complain to my mother in New Jersey, “All he does is bring me books to read. He doesn't want to play with his blocks or trucks. He just wants to read!” My mother wondered aloud what I was complaining about! I even remember hiding his favorite book, Steve and the Mighty Loader, high up on my bookshelf in hopes that I would get a break from reading it a dozen times a day!

We loved reading together. As he grew older, I remember snuggling up on his car bed with him to read. I can still picture him in his blanket sleepers, his hair wet from his bath, sucking his index finger, and waiting for me tell him a story. After I’d finish, I’d turn on his tape player and he’d fall asleep to tales from Beatrix Potter, A. A. Milne, and Thomas the Tank Engine. These were precious memories that bonded us together, mother and son.

When my son was in second grade, he was quite capable of reading on his own. I thought I was doing him a favor by letting him read to himself at bedtime.