Reading With My Big Kid

As soon as I found out I was pregnant with my son, one of the first things I did was buy books to read to him. Eight years later, many of the board books I read to him as a baby I now read to his little sister. I love reading and I want to instill that love of books into my kids. I read aloud to both of them as they were growing in my belly. As soon as the baby app told me they could hear in the womb, I was reading to them. After they were born, reading a book has always been part of their bedtime routine.

As my son has gotten older, I’m not involved much in his bedtime routine. After he no longer needed me to give him a bath, my part in his routine was telling him to take a shower, brush his teeth, and go to sleep. Reading to my baby girl, I realized I was missing having that one-on-one time with my son.

Since he’s a big kid now, I try to get his input on what he thinks about things. So, I asked him how he would feel if we read together before bed, and we’d read chapter books-just 1 chapter a night. I thought I’d have to sell him on it, but he agreed! The hard part was finding books that interested both of us. We decided that we’d share some of our favorites with each other. Here are a few titles and series that we’ve read together.

Bailey School Kids: The kids of Bailey Elementary have a special place in my heart. These were the first chapter books I remember reading as a kid. The premise of the books is that the Bailey School kids think an adult in their community or school is some kind of monster or mythical creature and they try to figure out if they are or not. Reading as an adult I realized these kids are sneaking out of their houses at only 8-years-old. Where were their parents? #90’sparenting

Goosebumps: What kid that grew up in the ’90s doesn’t like to read Goosebumps?!? These are an oldie, but a goody, and decades later they still are cool and spooky to read. If your kid frightens easily, maybe hold off until they are a little older.

Notebook of Doom series: This series reminds me somewhat of the Bailey School Kids. The kids in the series are fighting monsters in their town that somehow all the adults overlook. There aren’t many illustrations in the book, but the pictures that are in it are pretty cool. My 8-year-old approves!

Dog Man series: While Dog Man isn’t my favorite, my son loves reading the series. It’s about a half dog half man that fights crime. It’s written like a comic book. My son enjoys the pictures. If misspellings bother you, I wouldn’t recommend them. There are intentional misspellings throughout the book. It’s a great read for comic book lovers.

Honorable Mention: Babysitters Club. My 8-year-old would have 0 interest in reading The Babysitters Club. I can picture him rolling his eyes. I wanted to include it because it was one of my favorites!

Though big kids may be too old for a bedtime story, they’re never too old for their mama. We both enjoy the time we spend together and look forward to it each night. We enjoy reading together, but we also get to spend some mommy and son time together where it is just the two of us. Since he isn’t an only child anymore we don’t get much one-on-one time. We’re always looking for new books to read. What are some titles that you read with your big kids?