Christmas Book Traditions

I do not have children. And it is hard to not see happy children everywhere you go during the holiday season. Since you know about me, you would imagine my child would be an avid reader too. Starting as young as possible.

What I would do during the month of December is, of course, watch Christmas television specials and Christmas movies with my children. But we would also have special books that are only read at Christmas. My ideal scenario would be to have a book a day to read. Or at least enough books until Santa comes. :) When the children get older, they can make it fun all the way until the end of December if they choose to.

I would start when my child is little and let them pick out the book. Books are expensive so the first year set a limit on the number of Holiday books you will buy. The idea to let the collection grow each year. And to let the child see how much he or she has grown in the past year. And he or she will probably have favorites from say, when they were five, even now that they are eight. You can even have the child maybe do a certain chore to earn an extra book. And then at the end of the month, the books get packed away with the decorations. The point being they will be only taken out once a year, that they are special books. And you and your child read them together and it is great bonding and totally in the Holiday spirit.

I hope maybe this gave some of you parents an idea. With all of the video game consoles, the DVD's, the IPods, etc., I can imagine it is hard to get a child jazzed about reading. I could be wrong. But why not start them off young so they like it, associate it with family and being together and having fun not using electronics.