My husband usually handles the bulk of the bedtime routine with our older children while I’m taking care of Jenny and getting her down to bed. He agreed to do a guest post for me describing the nightly readings we do with our children.
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Our nightly routine is a very important part of ending our day, as well as teaching the children important disciplines and values. It gives me an opportunity to reach out to my children, to hold them, and to engage in their lives. We laugh and talk. We settle down to read.
Each night, once Jenny and Monica have gone upstairs, the older kids and I sit down with three books.
First, we read from a story book—we simply pick one out. Many times, I try to focus on finding a story for Will to enjoy–shorter with more pictures. Most of the reading during the day tends to be at the six year old level, so we make night time more enjoyable for him. I really want him to enjoy reading, so this is a very important part of the day.
We follow with a poem from “The Anthology of Poetry for Children”. This is sometimes painful for the kids—but most of the poems are not long. I really want the children to know and enjoy poems. With poems like: “The Merry Bells of London”, “Clementine”, and “Two Old Crows”; they have already heard some wonderful classic poems. I try to make it as fun as possible—but sometimes it is just enjoyable for me to read…while they sit and endure. I hope that my enthusiasm and repetition will develop into a lifelong love of poetry.
We end our reading with a lesson from our Read and Share Bible. This is a full colored simple Bible Story Book developed by Gwen Ellis to be shared with children. I love this book. I began using it at the beginning of the year (as a promotion from Thomas Nelson) and it has become the anchor to our nightly reading. I want our kids to be knowledgeable and open to listening to the Bible—and this has brought attention to the scriptures better than anything else we have used. The pictures are brightly colored and naturally attract the children’s attention. These large colored pictures and short texts have made the time much more enjoyable. I always enjoy the children fighting over who gets to sit next to me to see the pictures. We all should fight to see God’s word—shouldn’t we?
The biggest take away each night are the questions at the end of each story in the Read and Share Bible that gives me a chance to reinforce the keys points of each story. The book provides a wonderful complement to the home school curriculum as the girls have already heard the story, so they are always excited to hear it again.
I treasure the time spent with the children reading to them simple stories, poems, and about God’s Word. It is the perfect end to the day.
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Do you include nightly readings as part of your children’s bedtime routine?
Thomas Nelson’s Read and Share Bible is an important part our our nightly readings as part of our bedtime routine. We were given a Read and Share Bible to review and also one to give away to a blog reader.
Leave a comment below telling about your nightly readings and/or your bedtime routine and you’ll be entered to win a Read and Share Bible of your own.
This giveaway will be open until 8 pm on Friday, April 1. A winner will be announced and notified on Saturday, April 2.
Disclosure: I received a free copy of the Read and Share Bible to review and giveaway, the opinions expressed are my own (and my husband’s) and were not influenced by the free product provided or the company.
Post linked to Works for Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family
April W. says
My husband and I sometimes read together at night, but now that we’re expecting, I ‘d love to win this Bible to share with my baby.
Steph @ MomKaboodle says
We read 3 books at night as well, and (when we remember) we’ll read from a daily devotional. It’s technically a “preschool” devotional, but it still works for the 5-year-old! =)
Visiting you from iFellowship – hope you have a great day!
Jennifer Scruggs says
We read a library book or children’s book off the bookshelf– one for each child. Most nights, Jerry reads a book to one, and I read a book to the other. Many nights, the kids pick a devotional book or children’s bible story book as their book. I would love to win this book and have something I could use everynight with them!!! 🙂
Christie says
Here from WFMW. Bedtime routine for my niece: Potty, PJs, brush teeth, 1 book I read to her, prayers, kisses, and then she can choose 1-2 more books to read herself.
Jessica says
We like to do our nightly prayers first, then we will read books to the kids under 10 – lots of times the older ones like to listen too!!
Monica says
Hi Jessica,
You’re the winner of the Read & Share Bible. I’ll e-mail you for your contact information and ship it out to you this week.
Congratulations!!
Katie says
My daughter is still little, but she drinks her bottle and then we read a few board books before bed. I would love to incorporate some Bible stories into the nightly routine.