Reading your Child a Bedtime Story

Nights and evenings mean it's time to unwind from a long, hard day and rest for what the morning has in store for us. For Wife and me, it means climbing into bed and reading before closing our eyes for some well-earned slumber.

One More Important Duty

Before I can climb into bed for my slumber, though, I need to fulfill an important fatherly duty. This duty requires me to read to The Boy. This has been a tradition we have observed for years, and my youngest son has a stringent list of requirements that need to be religiously followed every night.

The night begins with a "First Assigned Spot". This means I have to be on my bed while The Boy changes his clothes and gets ready for bed. When he is ready, he comes to my room and informs me he is ready for me to go to his room and read to him. Every night, I take a shot and ask if my intelligent child might want to read a story to me for a change. I think that would be a nice little treat if I get to listen to my child's melodious voice for a couple of minutes before passing the reading baton and I will read until he falls asleep.

My youngest son has a stringent list of requirements that need to be religiously followed every night.

This, of course, is unacceptable for a number of reasons. Reasons that are so ridiculously obvious we don't need to get into them. It would be nice for me if he could let me in on these reasons, but that's another completely different story. Anyway, The Boy gets under the covers and closes his eyes and I regale him with a new story that will send his imagination to different, exciting worlds, or so I think.

What We're Going to Read

"Cat Kid Comic Club". Always
a favorite bedtime story read.

I have been informed time and again what "we" will be reading that night. It is usually one of the tried and true classics of Dog Man and Kat Kid Comic Club. Dav Pilkey's tales of the guppies who create comics for classmates to read and enjoy, and the police officer with the dog's head on a man's body are the ones that my child votes for night in, night out. I would like to have a vote in this, but that is just too foolish for my boy to comprehend.

What could be a better way to end the day? Well, ask my son and he'll give you a million answers to that question.

I always try to infuse some new stories in order to keep things fresh. I have tried to read the exciting adventures of Pete the Cat. That worked for a little while, but he soon grew bored of it and it was back to the works of Pilkey. There was also a time he told me he wanted me to read the adventures of The Hardy Boys. It was a great story. We got halfway through "The House on the Cliff". It was a great story and I couldn't wait to see if the Boys and their father would be able to outwit Felix Snattman. Alas, it didn't hold his attention, and I was to read (again) about the adventures of Dog Man.

What I would Like to Read

I know you're reading this and asking yourself, "Well, gee. If the stories are so good for you, why don't you just read them yourself?" Because I'm in the middle of my own stories that I'm trying to read, and my "To Be Read" Pile is already sky-high. Besides, this a chance for me to introduce something different to my child. It's like watching a cartoon or an episode of a show and you decide to show them a full-length movie with a plot and a great storyline.

"The Hardy Boys" was a great
read... for two or three nights.

It's not just The Hardy Boys. There are other short storybooks that I would like to read to him. There is Mercer Mayer's "Just me and my Dad". It's a great story about Little Critter who spends time with his dad doing fun things. I read those stories when I was a kid. I was looking forward to reading these stories to my son about Dad and his Little Critter doing things together. "Good Night Little Bear". Another great bedtime story and it's about bedtime! What could be a better way to end the day? Well, ask my son and he'll give you a million answers to that question.

This is a book I would love to
read... and act out with The Boy.

A Man can Dream

Tonight, I will be in my room spending precious minutes alone with my wife. The Boy will come in and inform me I've had enough time with his mom, and it is time for me to go to his room and read a story. I will enter his room and select three or four fantastic books for "us" to read. I would like to pick some others, but he has hidden these books to make sure I don't pick them, or worse, start to read them while he is comfortably settled in bed. That means he will have to get out of bed, take the book away from me, and replace it with a more suitable book. I will read Dog Man or Cat Kid Comic Club, the boy will fall asleep, and I will go to bed to rest up for another busy day.

"Man vs. Nature" is available for purchase on your Amazon Kindle.