Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Never too old...

Our dinner table is always full of lively conversation, and the other night was no exception. Except for one thing.

Our usual dinnertime "topic" conversation posed the question to the table, "What was your favorite bedtime story as a child?"

Our children's eyes immediately lit up, while our daughter's boyfriend shrugged his shoulders with a polite, "I don't know. I wasn't really read to as a child."

Now before you begin a rant about poor parenting or some such opinionated statement, you would need to know this particular fellow and his devoted parents.  I won't go into it, because that's not really the point of this post. The point is...

You're never too old to enjoy a children's book.

My oldest daughter truly has fond memories of bedtime stories, practically has the books memorized.  So I decided to step up the conversation by grabbing her most favorite and reading it to the entire table. Inside a barn in the country.  She insisted I do the voices as well.

The low chuckles accompanied that of my high-pitched giggling daughters and the mid-range laughter of my 13 year old son. :)  I got a certain thrill at hearing their thorough enjoyment.  I think there was clapping at the end.

We read MY favorite bedtime story next.  Well, Tuesday isn't so much something to be read, as is something to be experienced. There are like six words in the entire book. It's mostly pictures.  And yet there was a story behind the pictures that magically changed from night to night as my husband "read" the books to our children.

It was precious to see the effect the books have had on my children and their continued love of reading.  I also realized that my littlest ones didn't have a favorite one, nor are they read to as much as the older ones were.  A product of a busy household I suppose (and yet hasn't dampened their enthusiasm for reading books themselves).

But I'm not worried about spending more time reading to them, because...yup.  You're never too old...