PARENT QUESTION: My soon to be 21 month daughter does not want me to read her books for her, each time she takes the book from me and says she wanna read it all by herself.. What do i do?
ANSWER: I can understand the frustration but there is some pride mixed into this because of her independence and wanting to pretend to read.
Do you have her in your lap or sitting next to you? Sometimes sitting in the lap works better but not always. She may want to “read” parts of it but if you ask her questions about things on the page, it will include you again. Things like “Where is the tree? Can you find the orange?” Children will often hand the book back to mom in a few minutes once they’ve had a chance to explore it! If she wants to read the book just let her and feel proud of her independence and “reading”.
You could let her read one book and then you read the next and tell her that you’re taking turns. If she continues to pull the book away from you and it’s frustrating for you, just get another book and start to read it aloud but don’t give her any visual attention. It will just look like you’re reading the book to yourself and she may just crawl up in your lap and listen.
I know it’s frustrating but it could be a great time to work on taking turns and listening to each other read. If it’s really annoying for you, sit patiently and happily while she reads the book and then just get up. You don’t want her to feel discouraged and disapproved of for wanting to read it by herself but at the same time you don’t want to keep dealing with something that frustrates you! Also, just know this is a stage and that she will eventually feel the need to want to let you read again!
ANSWER: I can understand the frustration but there is some pride mixed into this because of her independence and wanting to pretend to read.
Do you have her in your lap or sitting next to you? Sometimes sitting in the lap works better but not always. She may want to “read” parts of it but if you ask her questions about things on the page, it will include you again. Things like “Where is the tree? Can you find the orange?” Children will often hand the book back to mom in a few minutes once they’ve had a chance to explore it! If she wants to read the book just let her and feel proud of her independence and “reading”.
You could let her read one book and then you read the next and tell her that you’re taking turns. If she continues to pull the book away from you and it’s frustrating for you, just get another book and start to read it aloud but don’t give her any visual attention. It will just look like you’re reading the book to yourself and she may just crawl up in your lap and listen.
I know it’s frustrating but it could be a great time to work on taking turns and listening to each other read. If it’s really annoying for you, sit patiently and happily while she reads the book and then just get up. You don’t want her to feel discouraged and disapproved of for wanting to read it by herself but at the same time you don’t want to keep dealing with something that frustrates you! Also, just know this is a stage and that she will eventually feel the need to want to let you read again!
