Growing a Love of Reading

I am passionate about developing a love of reading in young children. I read to my bump whilst pregnant and felt guilty for not taking books in my hospital bag during a hospital stay after giving birth! But as soon as I got home the reading started. To be completely honest, hanging around the home with a tiny baby is not something that I found easy- what would I do for hours on end? How would I fill the time? Well my time did get filled but between nappy changing and feeds we spent a lot of time curled up together in bed or on the sofa reading. We began with the black and white baby books and just kept going.

Reading was and still is a cosy affair in our house. When Danish hygge books came out last Christmas, I knew that we already had it nailed. We have a big soft sofa, blanket and real fire in Winter and in Summer we take a picnic blanket on to lawn and cuddle up and read. Making it a special time makes it something that we love to do.

We keep getting new books. Well, not really new but new to us. We have a regular library visit which is great as it doesn’t matter what books are chosen because we are just borrowing them. We raid charity shops and school fairs and get brilliant books for 20p. We even get special books from my mother in law’s loft that Daddy read when he was small. And from time to time we do get new books- presents and special treats rewarded with shiny new pages.

I model reading. Children look up to those who look after them- they adore us and want to be like us. That’s why I’m happy to let my little one see me reading whether it’s the newspaper or a book. When we go on our library visits, I get books for myself too and I talk bout my love of reading- what I liked to read when I was little and what I read now.

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Michael Morpurgo's Farm Boy @ Lichfield Garrick

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Beauty and the Beast @ Lichfield Garrick

“That was so funny I nearly wet myself!” Such was my 11 year old daughter’s review of the Lichfield Garrick’s 2023 Christmas Panto - Beauty and the Beast. Truth be told, although I hopefully have more bladder control than that, I was in pretty close agreement with her. I’m not sure which part of the show was the most hilarious. It may have been the obligatory slapstick gunge and slide routine making pudding in the Beast’s castle kitchen. However, Figgy the animated (and socially borderline) Greek statue was in hot pursuit. Had I been the unsuspecting gentleman who sat on the front row I may have found the audience participation rather less comedic (he loved it really!!!). What I do know though is that by the end of the evening my sides hurt, I’d become seriously dehydrated and my daughter and I were ready for the festive Christmas season to begin! You may wonder how Beauty and the Beast could pass for panto? However, Sam Rabone’s annual Pantomime dame, reappearing as Belle’s hideously

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