My 13 Month Old and Books

I had the same issue with my almost one year old son. He loved to rip at the pages and take the book out of my hand. So I actually started to put him in his crib and then sit in the chair in his room to read to him. He likes this very much. We do it at nap times and at bed time now. He may not be giving me his undivided attention the whole time I am reading but I know he hears me and he knows when I am finished as well. I believe that if he doesnt pay that close of attention now eventually he will be interested in what I am reading. The point is to allow him to see/hear me reading to help him develop good habits a solid routine and expand his language skills as well..Good luck to yah. Oh yeah I give him his time with the books all day long I have quite a few books mixed in with his toys that he can look through and we can play with together as well. So that way he has the best of both worlds...:)

My daughter was the same way with books. I wanted to read to her all the time but she was only interested in taking the book from me or just flipping the pages. She is just now starting to let us read to her and she is 20 months old! So she will let you read when she's ready. My daughter now will bring me books and sit in my lap and say "story" or "book". She LOVES to read books now!

Hi K. -

We had a hard time reading a whole book to our daughter too (and still do). We often paraphrase the text on the page or find ones with very little text. Ones with big bright pictures seemed to work better (like Brown Bear).

Good luck!
J.

Not to worry... She is still very young to be content while listening to you read. My daughter was the same way. She wanted to turn the pages and just look at the pictures and then she start telling me what is in the pictures.. Just keep trying and she'll eventually get more interested.

Have you tried letting her hold a different book while you read? She still might get stimulated though. Maybe try telling her a story that you make up at bed time and save the book reading for during the day for now. That way you can snuggle with her and not have your hands occupied with the book. The stories I make up are really silly and usually go along the same story line as a book but at your daughters age she's not going to notice if your made up story is the same as Cinderella or whatever you choose. Good Luck!

Hi K.

I've read that babies learn by DOING - by touching - experiencing. You're doing everything right. She's hearing the words and you're showing her pictures...and she's learning by touching and feeling the pages. We've found that books with things to touch (feathers on the chicken or "fur" on the rabbit) keep my son busy and more attentive.

We have two boys - 3 and 1. We did just what you guys are doing for our 3 year old and I can tell you that this boy LOVES books. It's the first thing he wants to do in the morning and the last thing he wants to do at night. He gets absorbed in the stories and the pictures and is learning his letters so well from identifying them within the story. I was worried - just like you are/were - for the same reason you are/were! It all works out! Just keep reading! :-)

I dunno to many 13 month olds that will sit and listen to a book. I know mine sure didn't at that age. Just read too her when you can and she will grow to enjoy it.

Hi K.,
I don't have any advice for you, but I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone. I also have a 12 month old that is exactly the same. She is always on the go and when I try to read to her, she grabs and tries to flip the pages. So, maybe it is just that they are really exploring their world. Good luck to you and just know that someone else out there is going through the same thing as you. That is the great thing about Mamasource!
K.

That is totally normal. My suggestion is to give her a book of her own to look at while you read a different one. Dont worry it wont be long until she will want to look at the book with you and point to the pictures and have you tell her what things are so dhe can repeat you :) Just have fun with it, that is what reading is all about. And dont think you have to finish a book just because you start it. If she is more interested in adifferent one read that one instead or just read a couple of pages at a time.

my daughter is 17 months.. she goes through times when she will sit and turn the pages of books- and wants us to read them to her.. and other times when she does not want to read books and would rather play with more active toys..

dont worry about it... I would still try to read a book to her- but if she is not interested - just stop when she gets bored..

My daughter is the same age and we going through the same thing. So there is nothing to be worried about. We keep books out all the time for her to "read" so I think as long as they are exposed to reading it's ok.

I have a 15-month old who loves books, but she does the same thing. I just give her one to play with and flip the pages or chew on while I read another book to her. Usually by about half-way through the book, she's calmed down and getting relaxed and ready for bed.

L.

There are many different kinds of learners: visual, auditory, and tactile/kinesthetic are the three basic ones. You probably have a tactile/kinesthetic learner which means she like to explore with all of her senses and engage in her environment rather than watch or listen. And, of course, this is developmentally appropriate to not want to sit still necessarily--you already had thought of this when you said that she is "really into discovery". That's exactly it. Allow her to engage in the book as she sees fit HOWEVER there are things you can try to help her become a lifelong reader (this is coming from experience as I have a 17-year-old and 10-year-old who are still avid readers and do very well in school--the 17-year-old is the kinesthetic one and the 10-year-old was the visual one who wanted us to read to him several hours a day at the age--he could sit still for hours!!). Here are some things you can try that I tried with my older one:
1--model reading in front of your child as much as possible
2--turn off the t.v. (We didn't allow them to watch t.v. until they were about 3 years old AND even now we only allow 1 hour a day--combined with computer and computer games--and we have no video games at all!)
3--try reading three very short books every night (as, hopefully, she will be tired and won't want to be as grabby) and gradually work up to longer books
4--when you read to her, allow her to pick out the books and bring them to you. Then allow her to play a game of some sort in order to pick which one to read next(or just pick them out). He always played "eeny meeny miny mo" moving his fingers across the books (nice for the tactile kids!).
5--select books that are age-appropriate for her (board books at this point), but that hopefully tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end.
6--Read the same books over and over so that she can read (or mumble) along with you--which will excite her to no end!
7--If you start to read and she grabs it away, you can tell her that she should read the book to you and that you can take turns. This way she is learning to share while she lets you read a little.

Try all or some of these and please let me know how it works out!

Have you tried books that can involve your daughter like lift the flaps, or singing books. Maybe the books are too long for her attention span at her age. Books with just a couple words per page are usually long enough at that age. There are books that she can touch and feel different things like bumpy or fuzzy. It is fun to change your voice a little and really get into the book. Your efforts will pay off, just have fun.

K.,

This is completely normal behavior. You are doing the right thing by reading to her. I know it is frustrating, but keep working at it. I just went to kindergarten round-up for my son and the Literacy Specialist discussed the importance of reading to your child for the first 5 years. She said that kindergarten teachers can tell from the first day the difference between children who have been read to and children who haven't. You are teaching her an important lesson, whether it seems like it or not. You should feel comfortable letting her lead the way. Let her play with the book, show her the pictures, ask her questions about it...even though she probably can't yet answer. My son did the same thing and now he really gets angry if we don't go to the library every week to get new books. My daughter who is 7 reads at a 3rd grade level. The other thing they say you should do is model the behavior. So when you can, you and her dad should read in front of her....even newspapers and magazines.

Good Luck.

S.

My daughter is 25 months old and she still doesn't let us read a book entirely through!! At that age, I would read to her during the day because she was the same way. Then at night, instead of reading her a story, I would tell her a story. either from memory, or I would just talk to her about what we did that day, or what we would be doing when she wakes up in the morning. That way we were still spending time together and we she was able to use her words to talk with me. This seemed to work really well for us. Now I also have a 10 month old son who this doesn't work with. His speech is nowhere close to where hers was at this age and he doesn't get anything out of "talking" at night. It all depends on the baby!!! Try just talking with her and see if that excites her as much as a book, or if it calms her down and relaxes her!

This sounds just like what my now 4-1/2 year son use to do. Not to worry, as long she sees that you are reading and eventually she will see as a daily part of her routine and request it at night time. My son would not sit for me either but I actually continued to read aloud when he would wiggle about. Once he was moved over to a big boy bed, we moved the reading to his bed as part of hs bedly routine for the night. He actually enjoys going to the bookcase to pick out his book for the night. Just keep at it, she will eventually look forward to that time.