‘83.6% of Mums spend time reading to their children at bed time, despite studies showing a growing number of Mums returning to work’
As a working mum, I’m often tired after being on the motorway and fairly stressed by the time I get home, but the one thing I make sure I do every night is to read to and with my daughter as part of her bedtime routine. Around 1 in 10 parents admit that they find the bedtime routine very stressful, it is certainly a lot easier, when after the bath, hair brushing and teeth cleaning to focus my daughter’s attention with the promise of a story together.
‘Even as dads get more involved in parenting, bedtime is still mums domain, with 51% of mums in charge of bedtime each night compared to just 15% of dads’
We are lucky that our childminder does our daughters school reading with her, because often by bedtime she is too tired to read by herself and it can turn into an unwelcome battle. She is now at the age where reading is a pleasure for her and as long as the pressure of having to read is removed; I find she often takes over from me whilst I read her, her bedtime story. Dad is very involved with parenting and shares the bedtime routine, especially on those nights that I’m just too tired.
Our daughter has a wide selection of story books, she is keen to read some of her school reading book to me to show me how well she is doing and will select the book she wishes me to read to her before going to sleep. We do have our favourites, one of my personal favourites is Winnie the Witch.
I find it important to prioritise the bedtime routine with my daughter, especially as a working mum. Whether it’s the reading or the routine, our daughter certainly settles to sleep a lot quicker than she does if the reading is missed out of the routine.
I’m going to miss the bedtime routine when she’s older.
Do you read with your kids every night? What are your favourite books?
Disclosure: This post was inspired by research undertaken by Fairy Non-Bio about children’s bedtime routines and we did receive a bottle of Fairy Liquid and a lovely bedtime blanket for our daughter.
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