Jill Smokler, AKA Scary Mommy
Latest posts by Jill Smokler, AKA Scary Mommy (see all)
- Dear Judgy Mothers on My Website… - June 15, 2013
- 10 Skills Every Mother Should Possess - June 10, 2013
- Perfection (Or pretty close) - June 3, 2013
I’ve always loved to read. As a kid, I would devour books nightly as the rest of my family lay sound asleep, barely keeping my eyes open the next day at school. I have fond memories of my mom tearing up as Charlotte took her last breaths and recognizing my brother and I in Judy Blume’s The Pain and the Great One. I simply could not get enough. Reading something I want my children to value as well, and I really want to love reading to them. But, lately, they’re making it pretty damn tough.
Our evening reading routine begins with the Great Battle of the Books. Lily and Ben each pick out two books and immediately compare the lengths of them. If one is deemed longer, thicker or somehow superior, the chorus of “not fairs” commences. It’s another five minutes before the ultimate choices are settled on. Then we need to choose a location: Lily’s Room where Ben is not allowed on the bed or Ben’s where Lily fusses the whole time. Finally situated on the floor somewhere, there are fights over just how much lap each is allotted. There is pushing, screaming and hair pulling until everyone is settled in. Once I open the book, I’m accused of skipping pages if I don’t read the the very first words. Published by Simon & Schuster, I begin with a sigh. And on to the story. “Wait, go back!” and “that’s not what it says” and “let me see that again!” echo again and again. Can I just please read the book, I sigh countless times.
Once we finish one book, the same routine continues with the others. And, finally, story time draws to a close. Thank goodness. Inevitably I’m asked to read the same ones again, and the answer is always a resounding no. Until the next night when the fun begins all over.
I really love to read. At least, I thought I did.
{ 44 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey girly- i’m with you. tho I went NUTTY on the sweet valley high. Lily and ben are the best.
The Boxcar Kids were my thing…..I think that’s what they were called – how sad, I can’t even remember.
I’m so glad other parents to have to read the copyright and publishing information as well….good times.
Futureblackmail’s last blog post.."NOT FAIR" IS THE NEW BLACK
I was always a bookworm too… and so are the kids… they are both very protective of their books…we had a battle this morning when Graham wanted to take one of Dottie’s books to school.. Graham won.
cristin’s last blog post..Filthy little junkie with painted on ears.
Same story-time story at my house. Only minus the sibling rivalry since there is just the one kid.
The one kid who has HORRIBLE taste in literature. He won’ sit through Make Way for Ducklings, but wants to read Follow the Tow Truck (an author-less TONKA book) approximately 27,000 times per night.
Sigh.
natasha the exile on Mom Street’s last blog post....and then the swine flu showed up and we all died. Well, except JR..
you know I used to devour those Nancy Drew books. Oh how I loved them. I love that you read to your kids, I never had that. And it will help them read later on in life which is very important.
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I am an avid reader. Absurd, actually, in how I devour them!
My kids each get 4 books every night. Sometimes it makes me want to stab myself in the eye with a fork; others, it’s very nice to have the quiet time to read to them. But I know what you’re saying…I’ve uttered, screamed and moaned those words: “Can I just read, PLEASE?!” so many times!!
pgoodness’s last blog post..Wordless(-ish) Wednesday
Bookworm myself! During law school everybody rolled their eyes in my family when I was reading fun stuff during my free time.
I love to read to my kids, and thank God they have learned to love books as well. They already have quite a collection, though it varies between dinosaurs and princesses. Our favorite outing is either the bookstore or the library. Yeap, my brothers think I am monster converting their nephew and niece into a replica of my past nerd self!
Story time at night, girl! goes exactly the same way! My mom thinks I’m like a General that takes the fun out of fun… if I don’t crack the whip and set them each in a different corner and establish the rules of what are we going to read and for how long, there will be no rest… readings will go forever and ever and ever Zzzzzzzzz
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My stepson just said last night he wished we lived on the top of Barnes and Noble. This way he could wake up every morning and pick a new book.
I would be waiting at the Starbucks counter for my morning coffee.
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THANK YOU. We’re not alone. My husband, the designated reader, is really starting to hate reading to the kids because they make such a fuss. I’m the reader in his absence and yeah, I understand the feeling.
Even if we HAD a unanimous vote for a book, that changes when we sit down to read. Then there’s some bickering and begging for other books. When we’re reading, the big kids are likely to either ignore the story or ask stupid questions about things WE JUST READ. TheBoy will likely be bouncing around, harassing his sisters or hiding with a pair of scissors he found (why they were in the girls’ bedroom, I’ll never know) cutting off the cord on their new expensive binoculars that they got as gifts.
I remember sitting quietly while my dad read to me at bedtime. I was completely absorbed in the story. My kids, however, completely different story.
Sorry to share the misery, but I’m glad to know I’m not alone.
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wow- that sounds just like my house at bedtime!
My older one just started reading chapter books though…he’s up late into the night devouring Diary of a Wimpy Kid!
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Awe, I remember reading Charlotte’s wed over and over… same with Just As Long As We’re Together by Judy Blume — I must have read that book 100 times!
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I love to read! I also loved to read to my kids until I had to read the same book over and over again in an hour. It was Brown Bear, Brown Bear:)
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Ahh you’re an awesome blogger. Okay, I was smiling the entire time I was reading this. I thought I had battles now, but I’ve not at the ‘brothers comparing book lengths’ yet! Thank God! Haha! And yes, my oldest sometimes doesn’t let his brother on his bed.
And yes, when I’m reading my oldest books we have to discuss everything in great detail, which sometimes is great, but other times – like last night at 11:45 p.m. – not so great! Mama was tired, you know! Anyway, as long are they love reading, that’s all that matters, right?
Loukia’s last blog post..Too much of a good thing?
Oh yes, and I’m an avid reader myself… I’m a serious bookworm. I’d much rather stay home with a good book then go out. I’ve been an avid reader my entire life and am so happy my oldest son loves to read, too, and totally enjoys books. My youngest, although he’s only 16 months, is not showing as huge an interest in books as his older brother… hoping this changes!
Loukia’s last blog post..Too much of a good thing?
We started out reading to both of our kids at the same time; then we split up, alternating which-parent-gets-which-kid each night whenever we could. Eventually the big one got old enough that she preferred reading on her own – whew! My husband can still do the entire Cat In The Hat, hiphop style, from memory – we read it that many times.
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I used to read just like that! I would go underneath the covers with a flashlight and read until I fell asleep on the book.
My kids aren’t quite old enough to be fighting over books yet…. but I’ve heard a similar story more than once, so I see it coming!
MG @ MommyGeekology.com’s last blog post..Knock knock! Who’s there? Three! Three who?
I think reading is great for kids!…not that I read at all these days …but the kids do. They love it. They are all out of the stage of us reading to them and have found books that they themselves love to read. I am happy that, for the most part, they enjoy reading more than TV.
…although…we are trying to convince the 9 year old that she is NOT Laura Ingles (reading the little house series)
TentCamper’s last blog post..Parents are F’ing Up Their Kids
Well, I don’t know what to say except someday they will be reading books in bed before sleep all by themselves – won’t that be something! Then you might feel a little nostalgic for those days – maybe just a little!
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lots of fights over here with who holds the book, who turns the pages, which book, which book we read first and on and on.
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At least your kids let you read. Mine either chew the pages or rip the pages or grab the book out of my hand and run off with it. Fun times.
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I’ve always been a big reader myself, and Reagan is thankfully showing all the signs that she is going to be so as well. And she is already pulling some antics just like your kids to try to delay the whole going to bed process! At least I think that is why she does it!
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Oh I am right there with you. When I was pregnant with the first I so delighted at the thought of reading to my wee little one. I would do it every night. We would snuggle and laugh and enjoy and relish in reading like I had my whole life.
Right. That went completely out the window. Fairly quickly in fact.
I have to say though, that this year, 10 year old and I have been reading books in tandem and it’s been fun. Fun! Actual, real fun to revisit the Judy Blume books with her, talking about them later in the day after we have both had a chance to read. And I love reading the books she has to read in class. See, she has to stop and wait for her assignments and I get to read on and hold over her head that I know what happened!!
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I can completely relate. Love your blog!
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Story time at night always sounds better than it actually ends up being.
Jennifer’s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday: Pop Would Be Proud
We often have the same battle which usually ends with me getting up and not reading.
Jen, buried with children’s last blog post..For The First Time
This sounds so familiar. I’m glad my kids are a little older. Now they can read to me. ;-)
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THANK YOU! I’ve been beating myself up over this one. If I read “No, David!” or “David Gets In Trouble” one. more. time.
I am a reading specialist and I never thought I would admit to this. I hide books from my 3 year old. I know….shame on me. But seriously, how many times is one mom supposed to endure Dora before going completely insane?!
Yup, I’m with you. The struggle over which book to read, the fighting over who’ll sit where, the backwards and forwards because one didn’t see something and the other didn’t hear it. It’s all so TIRESOME. Sigh.
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AHHHHH!!!! Way to familiar. So now we’re taking turns picking books. Only one book a night. Between the two of them. And I’ve had to mark it on the calendar, so that they can rush home afterschool and actually SEE whose turn it is for story-picking tonight.
Right now we’re reading The Arabian Nights. And let me just caution you, don’t.
At the end of every chapter is Scheherazade saying something like “And this was nothing compared to the story I will tell you tomorrow, if the King lets me live.” At which point they begin to beg and plead for JUST. ONE.MORE.CHAPTER.PLEASE.MAMA!!! Until I cave. But there it is again at the end of the next chapter.
It’s awful!!!
So it gets worse???!!! I am currently plagued by two year old twins who have to point to pictures on the page and say the word over and over and over…because apparently everyone wants the last word. Even when the word is “truck” or “potty.” And god forbid they aren’t paying attention and notice that they missed their chance to fight over pointing and saying words – then we simply must skip back and pick up where THEY left off. Sadly, telling them to get over it and too bad so sad, don’t roll around on the floor playing with matchbox cars next time is not an option. Bedtime is exhausting. No wonder I sometimes fall asleep with my four year old in his toddler bed.
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Um I completely feel you! My 3 are the same way. We argue over books…book lengths..how many. Then while reading they want to ask a million questions or the youngest is climbing on us…it’s nearly enough to make me crazy.
There are many reasons why I know my DIL is a good Mommy but…the times my little toddler grandchildren go pick up books off my book shelves and then come in backwards to sit on my lap for me to read to them…let’s me know that their Mommy reads to them often!
My grand daughter is not yet two and holds a book like a treasure and when she sits in my lap while I read to her…I feel like the richest Gigi on the planet!
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I’d be a horribly mean mother and say “If you continue to argue, I’m going to pick books, that I want to hear.” Then I’d read the dictionary. But then, this is why I’m not a mother ;-)
Published by Simon & Schuster…..hah, funny! You read them the copyright too? lol.
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I am a total book whore. No kidding.
I alternate with my 5-year-olds picking the books, it has seemed to work with only minor scuffles so far.
Melissa’s last blog post..You Capture! Family
You know, Kaishon really likes me to read that stupid first page too : ). The one where they say where the book is published etc. HELLO! That is boring! But not to Kaish : ). I try to read him a story book when I am waking him up in the morning. That way he has a happy start to his day. Versus me SCREAMING to scamper down the stairs and out to the car because we are late : ).
Life with Kaishon’s last blog post..Bikini Bodies!
I love reading to my children, but can’t stand any of the battles over who’s closest to me, who can see the book better, etc. Luckily, for us, those battles are starting to turn into petty skirmishes as my older children are learning to read. I hope they love to read as much as I do.
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My girls (5&3) LOVE Charlotte’s Web but I won’t read it anymore because it started the 5 year old thinking about the mortality of her paternal grandfather. YIKES! I didn’t see that coming!
Having 3 kids who all think they own my lap, and who also accuse me of skipping pages if I don’t read all the junk in there… I have a strict rule that if they put up too much of a fuss, they get a couple of warnings, I’ll stop reading and simply tuck them in. I’ve only had to do it once. Location isn’t usually an issue for us, but is reading in the living room on the couch a possibility?
I read one story. ONE. The three older kids take turns picking out a story or if we have library books, I’ll pick one of those. Then it’s hugs and kisses, blankets, lights out, and don’t bother Mommy anymore – she’s off duty. OK. That last part seldom works out, but that’s what we’re aiming for!
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This is funny…when my boys couldn’t read yet…I would actually skip pages to end the (nightmare) joy of reading to them before bed. And I love to read! Since they are twins I think they came pre programmed to take turns better so we would go every other night with their pick. Now they read to each other and on their own and go to bed nearly 30 minutes early every night to do so. So hang in there…the love of reading is really going to pay off soon if you play your cards right.
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I love reading. My parents read to me a lot when I was little. *laugh* Now I am a writer myself! Reading is one of the best things you can do for your kids.
Elizabeth Barrette’s last blog post..Feeding Our Children Right
Maybe they should have a separate story time until they’re a little bit older?
My kids are 11 & 14. When they were young, once I tucked them in, they were allowed to stay up in their bed and read. Of course I did not let them stay up all hours, but they have both turned into readers. Both are reading adult books right now, which can be a challenge trying to find them with appropriate topics for an 11 year old. My 14 year boy old is reading “Angels & Demons” (the sequel to the Divini Code) and my 11 year old daughter is reading “The Death & Life of Charlies St. Cloud”.
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