Anonymous wrote:OP here. For the 3.5 yr old, we only read "chapter books" that have pictures on every page: things like the Princess in Black, My Father's Dragon, Lulu and the Brontosaurus, and illustrated versions of classics like James & the Giant Peach. Those are fun to draw out over 2-3 nights (so that we get to talk/speculate about the plot the next day), but we still read regular non-chapter books too.
There are great tips here, but I also see that I need to calm down. I think it's BECAUSE my 15 mo. old is a second child that I was stressing. I know that children are all different, develop at different paces, have unique interests, but I have this persistent fear that between COVID and our very demanding jobs, we are dropping the ball in some respects with our second in a way that we did not with our first. So I'm hyper attentive to differences between the two - and nervous that they are correlated to the focus/attention/touch we've been able to give her versus the oldest. But as others said, this is a recipe for bad parenting and I need to just do my best and stop worrying.
Anonymous wrote:I actually think you’re doing the wrong thing with your older one. Chapter books at 3.5yo, when there are so many lovely picture books around? Blech. You’re going to be one of the ones complaining that public school can’t accommodate your 4th-grade-reading-level kindergartner!
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:This was my experience too with my first two kids. First one listened for 49 minutes at 15 months, second one had. I interest at that age! It worried me too. I kept reading to him while he nursed, through the crib when I put him down, in the car seat before we left, etc and by 18 months the switch flipped and he could sit just as long as his sister for books.![]()
Oh, I forgot to mention that I definitely think you get children tend to be more focused on the activity of an older sibling... which is sooo much more interesting than books. I think older children are drawn to books at an earlier age because they are bored.
Anonymous wrote:This was my experience too with my first two kids. First one listened for 49 minutes at 15 months, second one had. I interest at that age! It worried me too. I kept reading to him while he nursed, through the crib when I put him down, in the car seat before we left, etc and by 18 months the switch flipped and he could sit just as long as his sister for books.![]()