When did your children stop reading picture books? Did you keep any?
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Anonymous
| I'm decluttering all the kids stuff and wondering when to get rid of these. |
Anonymous
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We throw away almost everything, but we have a bin where we keep some special stuff. It includes 20-30 of our favorite, classic picture books.
We could easily give the books away now and buy them later, but this is one thing that I want to give to our grandchildren, if we end up with any! We fully retired the picture/board books when our youngest was 7. It could have been earlier, but the classic Dr. Seuss, etc., were still fun to revisit sometimes, even after he had long been reading chapter books. |
Anonymous
| I kept all hardcover picture books. They aren't cheap, and they take very little storage on a bookshelf. I'm a book person though, and can't say I kept any other sentimental kids items. |
Anonymous
| My kid stopped earlier than I would have liked, maybe second grade. We've kept a couple, including some ones that my parents kept from my childhood. Mostly we donated them though. |
Anonymous
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I struggle with this. I do thin the herd here and there because our family loves books. But my kids are getting bigger and the Knuffle Bunny just isn't getting read any more.
I have a shelf in the basement where I put the books that I LOVE that I know my kids don't really care about. My youngest is 9 and will still read some picture books, though he prefers comics of Wings of Fire most of the time. I have a hard time letting them go because building their library for the first 5 years of their life felt so important. We did SO MUCH reading together before they could read on their own. It was such a great part of their childhoods for me. So I'd just thin what you have. We had a LOT of books, so I'd give away 10-20 here or there. Every 6 months I give my kid's bookshelves a look over and see what can go or be moved to "temp holding" before moving it out of the house. I love books for this is hard for me 
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megshahmvsed
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| Hi! Picture books with complex themes about empathy are important! I would keep them through late elementary as a reference. It helps guide a discussion about more difficult topics - makes it less personal, "What did the character choose to do in this instance?" "What was the impact?" "What lesson did they learn?" "How is this similar to this current situation?" But the toddler board books and stories that were less memorable, I would donate to day cares, schools, Little Libraries, or inside local libraries (Northeast Library donation bin is in the basement and then they resell at the Friends of the Library Used Book Sale). |
Anonymous
| My kids are big readers and enjoyed revisiting favorite picture books once they were older. No need to keep them all, but they also don't have to be categorically "thrown out." |
Anonymous
| Never |
Anonymous
| Honestly these are the things I wish my parents and in-laws would have kept instead of things like gross old stuffed animals, school artwork, or ancient baby equipment. Love old picture books and I’m keeping the good ones. |
Anonymous
| We are keeping most of the kids books. Exceptions are a few that are too worn. Many were books I read early on that mom kept for my kids. |
Anonymous
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My DSs are grown. I kept the picture books they loved that I also loved (because there were books they loved that were crap that I was very happy to say goodbye to, lol.) I keep the list in my phone, as a reference if I'm ever buying books for a kid:
Our Bill Peet faves (The Ant and the Elephant, The Caboose Who Got Loose, Pamela Camel) Our William Steig faves (Brave Irene, Doctor DeSoto, Rotten Island, Shrek, Sylvester & the Magic Pebble) The collected George & Martha books The Big Orange Splot Big Red Barn Bored, Nothing to Do Caps for Sale Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs D’Aulaire’s Greek Myths Fortunately Frederick Good Night, Gorilla In the Night Kitchen June 29, 1999 Katy and the Big Snow The Little Fur Family The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge The Maggie B Mice Twice The Philharmonic Gets Dressed Sector 7 The Seven Silly Eaters The Snowy Day The Tale of Custard the Dragon Tickle, Tickle Tikki Tikki Tembo Yoko |
Anonymous
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Yeah, we had to keep a few special ones and put them with her baby/ toddler/ little kid keepsake toy box. We will give that to her when she has a family one day.
We read almost every night, it pained me to get rid of some of them. But alas, they grow up and move on to new things. |
Anonymous
| We kept the classics and particular favorites if our kids. Good Night Moon, Make Way for Ducklings, Cat in the Hat Charlottes Web |
Anonymous
| Age 10 for youngest and we still have a bookshelf of picture books. I guess if we ever move I would get rid of them but dont see any reason to do so now. |
Anonymous
| My kids are 10 and 12 and still have picture books and still read through them occasionally (most picture books are actually written at the 4th or 5th grade level). That said, my sister is a children's librarian so our selection of children's books is phenomenal. |