I had been listening to a Mormon Channel podcast. Julie B. Beck said that when her kids were young, she never made them stop reading to go to sleep. She believed that a reading child stayed out of trouble.
I decided that I agreed.
So tonight, I put Grace and Claire in bed and handed Grace her book. I left the room, kept on the light, and shut the door.
I expected to hear the silence of one reading brain and a sleeping one. Instead I heard complete chaos. Laughing, squealing, wrestling, screams of delight. Nothing conducive to reading. And usually I would probably yell at them. In a very harsh mommy voice I would probably shout, "Be quiet, and go to sleep!!" (Not that there's ever screaming in this household.)
But I thought about Sister Beck and I thought that I probably wanted to encourage sisterly affection as much as I wanted to encourage reading. And they seemed happy. So I stayed mostly quiet.
Several minutes later, Grace shuffled down the hall with a smirk. "Mom. You know what I just realized?"
"What did you realize, Grace?"
"That even if your sister's littler than you, you can have a lot of fun playing with her." And she shuffled away.
And man, they made my month.
This makes my heart so happy. I am so excited to have 2 girls close in age. Thank you so much for sharing your perspective.
ReplyDeleteAw, love that story! We share a similar philosophy and lt them giggle and chat in their beds at night...which usually leads to some games and crazy-laughter. If it gets too late we intervene but otherwise, we figure that's where bonds are formed, and we're just preparing them for having a future family...where they won't ever sleep again!! :)
ReplyDeletelove it, elise. love it.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to say thanks for the comment/advice you left on my blog about parenting. It was helpful. It's so nice knowing I'm not alone.
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