My reading life changed dramatically when I became a mother. During my single years, I always had a book or two going. I was the bookworm of the family. Now a mother of two (a three-year-old and one-year-old), I have difficulty remembering the last time I finished a book.
Wait, I take that back. Last night I finished reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Children’s books count, right? When I was pregnant with my daughter, I read The Tale of Despereaux aloud to her. During her stay in NICU, I read bits of The Wind in the Willows. Now she is a blossoming bookworm just like her mama.
My reading life has taken on a new form since becoming a mother, but each year I find myself wanting to try and get back to something of the reading life I had before. One author I follow has a reading challenge he puts out at the start of each year. Every year I print it out because it looks like so much fun, but so far, I’ve never come close to completing it. So my challenge this year is not to complete it, but to find ways to get some more reading into my daily life. Here are five tips I am going to incorporate to start reading again.
1. Incorporate children into reading time.
Reading novels to children can be intimidating. But I don’t believe we should restrict ourselves to only reading picture books to young children. It’s good for children to be able to sit and listen to books that maybe they don’t even understand yet. They are also absorbing new vocabulary as they listen.
2. Aim to read every day.
I often want to give up on a book because I can’t get past the first paragraph, but instead of being discouraged that I can’t get as far as I would like, I aim to read every day. Even if I only get in a few sentences, those few sentences will eventually become a paragraph . . . will become a page . . . will become a chapter. Until slowly but surely, like the little tortoise, I finish the race.
3. Put my phone away.
I’ve developed a bad tendency since becoming a mother of scrolling too much. Scrolling mindlessly is easier than reading. I get into the mindset of “Why bother starting a book if I’m just going to be interrupted?” I’ll just open Facebook instead. I have a basket by my couch filled with my journal, books, bible, and devotional. So instead of reaching for my phone, I’m going to challenge myself to open up my bible and read from a book, a few sentences of my devotional, or another book in the pile. In the end, I know if I only get in a paragraph, it will be more rewarding than the 20 minutes wasted scrolling.
4. Audio books are your friend.
I heart Audible. It’s much easier to get in a chapter while I’m washing the dishes or driving than in the traditional way. This goes for the bible as well. I often put on the Psalms to listen to while I go about my day. Aside from their usefulness, I love listening to stories read by people with accents. Nothing beats listening to Pride and Prejudice read with an English accent. My daughter shares my love of accents. All of the characters in her favorite show have an English accent and refined vocabulary, so my 3-year-old daughter will walk around saying, “Yes, mother, a walk sounds lovely.”
5. Children’s books count.
I joked about whether or not children’s books count, and yes they do! There are excellent children’s books that count as literature. C.S. Lewis said of fairy tales, “Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.” By the way, if you want to talk books with me, please bring up C.S. Lewis! You’re never too old to enjoy children’s literature, especially with your children. There is no better way to foster a love for good books in your child than to read to them. Oh, and I also love to talk about reading aloud to your kids. Always do this even if your kid is in high school! Read, read, read to them! Yes, of course, they need to read on their own too, but they never outgrow being read to.
Writing this is making me excited about reading again. Time to reinvigorate our reading lives and make 2025 a year for book nerds!
The opinions expressed in this post are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of ABQ Mom, its executive team, other contributors to the site, its sponsors or partners, or any organizations the aforementioned might be affiliated with.
