© iStockphoto/Heiko Bennewitz Bennewitz
Parents often wonder when the best time is to start sharing books with their children. This 8 month old baby seems to really be focusing on a board book. I wish I could see what picture he's so fascinated by!
Babies love to stare at faces and contrasting images, but they also love to cuddle up with parents and listen to their loving voices.
Everyone knows that they also love to put things in their mouths...
©iStockphoto/Zsolt Biczó joruba
So, when is the best time to start reading with a baby?
Well, according to this ABC News article, even fetuses react to different voices during the last two to three months of pregnancy. So technically, expectant parents could read aloud to their babies before they're even born!
The first thing on your mind when you bring a newborn baby home may not be reading a book, and it's more important at this stage to make your baby feel loved. Babies feel loved when a parent speaks with excitement and enthusiasm, smiles, plays, cuddles, and responds to his or her needs.
Bringing a baby home can be overwhelming at first, but once you've adjusted, the earlier you introduce books the better. Babies love to look at faces (especially if you make funny faces) and black and white (and colorful) images, and when they look at board books, the combination of the pictures and your voice will captivate them. I can't think of a better time to start raising a reader! For a great article about reading with babies, click here.
Whether you start "book looking" with your baby at 1 month or 8 months, you'll need books that can survive being spit up on, chewed on, spilled upon, pulled, rolled over on - you name it!
I have so many used and abused board books and picture books. I actually love the wear and tear because it reminds me of the many happy memories of reading with my young children. But the fact is that babies and toddlers put anything and everything into their mouths, including books. How do you read to babies when they treat the books like lollipops?
Believe it or not, babies and toddlers learn a lot about the world around them through the five senses. Touch is important, and they even learn from putting different shapes and textures of toys, books, and other materials into their mouths. That's why I was so excited when I stumbled upon some very special books for babies and toddlers.
Tybooks, soon to be rereleased as Indestructibles, are an extremely innovative, paper-like version of board books. They are lightweight, waterproof, tear resistant and washable! Your baby can even enjoy them in the bathtub. These books are so thin that you'll be able to carry them everywhere. They're also wordless, so you can just talk about the beautiful illustrations with your baby.
Tybooks are so durable that they come with a guarantee. The company will replace them at no charge if somehow your baby does manage to tear them! But I doubt that will happen, because they are pretty close to indestructible...Just watch this Dare to Tear video. One more important piece of information: these books are non-toxic, BPA-free, and meet ASTM safety standards.
The great news is that the company has so generously offered to give one of my readers 3 Indestructibles (Farm Charm, Creepy Crawlies, and Things with Wings) as a giveaway! If you are the parent, grandparent, relative, or friend of someone who recently had a baby (within the past year), all you have to do is write a comment, including your email address (which of course is never shared), at this post by Monday, July 6th, 2009. If you tweet this post, email it to a friend, or link to it on your Facebook page, you'll increase your chances of winning. Please tell me you did so in your comment.
When do you remember first reading, or looking at, books with your child?