As a child

[Night Elf]

were you a reader? I was. We went to the library once a week and got a stack of books. I even remember getting my first library card. The only requirement was that I had to write my name. I was so proud! I did play outside with friends, but I definitely spent some time every day with books.

 

My kids were all readers when they were young. Now they've outgrown it. It's odd. DH and I are huge readers. I don't know why our kids lost interest.

[PrincessMommy]

No.  I didn't get the bug until I was 13.  

[JustEm]

Nope! I didn't really read for pleasure until freshman year of college. Then I zoomed through books in between my studies.

 

I did love being read to

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

 

 

I was, and still am. DH was/is off and on.

 

My boys are.

[Jaybee]

I read voraciously as a child. All kinds of books. I loved summertime because I could read (almost) to my heart's content. I read the 33 Happy Hollister books each three times; when I started the series for the fourth time, I realized I had outgrown it and didn't like the kids so much anymore. Those books were probably 2nd-3rd grade mostly. I read at school when I finished my work and any other time I could. Thankfully, teachers allowed it. I still love to read, though there are some types of books I am not interested in anymore. I sometimes find it hard to find just what I am in the mood for nowadays. And sadly, I think, I spend too much time on the computer, and not enough time reading books. I justify it by saying that I am reading on the computer, which I mostly am, but it's not the same.

[Pawz4me]

I was a voracious reader from the time I had that first Dick and Jane book in my hand.

[DesertBlossom]

Yes. My mom was a teacher and I used to spend time with her in her classroom and when I was bored I'd read her picture books. But I also remember reading a lot of chapter books in later elementary-- all the Little House books and I think the Anne of Green Gables series.  And the Babysitters Club. Loved the Babysitters Club. It's probably considered "twaddle" but I rocked that babysitter bag I made inspired by my reading.

Edited April 11, 2017 by DesertBlossom

[Crimson Wife]

I can't remember a time when I wasn't reading. Apparently I taught myself at age 3. My mom thought I had memorized my books until I mispronounced a word with a silent letter.

 

My dad had a set of the Harvard Classics on display in our living room (I think for snob appeal) and I got it into my head that these were the books I should read if I wanted to attend a good college. I did not read all of them but I did read most of the fiction, drama, and science volumes. It is one of the reasons why TWTM appealed to me

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JFSinIL]

Oh yes - second grade I discovered the Bobbsey Twins.  Started reading and never stopped.  Later, when I was in middle school, I discovered and devoured The Lord of the Rings during spring break. Kicker is, we spent the week at a house right by the sand in Newport Beach, CA (friend of my mom loaned it to us since they went elsewhere for break).  Folks let me hide inside with my three fat paperbacks all week!!!! I was so happy!!!!!

Edited April 11, 2017 by JFSinIL

[ErinE]

I remember I was so excited when we got our "reader" books in first grade. I remember there was a panda on the front.

 

I love to read, and my parents never forbid me any books. Which is why I ended up reading King's It at nine years old. I manage my kids reading habits more actively, not forbidding books, just recommending they wait until later.

 

My mother would offer to take us to the movies or the bookstore. We always chose the bookstore, searching for the thickest books with the smallest print. My siblings and I had rules over books left on the coffee table before someone could claim it: length of time it was there, bookmarks between pages, the last time it was picked up. Dogears didn't count as they could have been put there anytime.

 

When DH is traveling, we have a read at the table night. I still need to read at least one hour every night.

[rebcoola]

Yes I read all the time I may have even skipped school to read.

[Ottakee]

I was a huge reader. We lived out in the country but in the summer the Book Mobile would come out once a week and we could trade books there. When I stayed in town with Grandma she would take me to the library.

 

I attended a small 3 room Christian country school for K-8 grades and read most of the books there. The teacher in 6-8th grades let me be in charge of the book orders and then let me have the free books as rewards.

 

I still love to read and often have one paper books, one kindle book and one audio book going at the same time. Today I listened to my audio book while I did my exercise DVD, did laundry, cleaned, etc.

 

Interestingly mine that likes to read the most is the one I thought would NEVER learn to read. She is moderately Cognitively impaired but is very functional with her reading and loves kid/youth non fiction books the best. Right now she has about 40 books out in various Indian tribes and cultures of the world.

[Annie G]

I was a reader as a kid but in my teens and twenties virtually stopped reading. Now I'm reading more than ever. My kids are the same. They all tapered off as teens but now are reading a lot more. Finishing college and no longer having required reading seems to have resparked their interest in reading.

[SKL]

I would say yes, but I didn't read the volume kids are expected to read today.  (At least in my kids' school.)  I remember the first book I read to my KG class (My Friend the Cow).  I read library books that I loved so much, I remember them today, and I've tried to buy some of them (successfully or unsuccessfully) to share with my kids.  One of my favorite books was an antique copy of Little House in the Big Woods that my mom picked up at the Salvation Army when I was about 5.

 

When I was a kid, going to the library was something kids did without parents, and I would walk there whenever I wanted.  I have many happy memories of going there.  But I also was a well-rounded kid, and the library was just one of many places I might hang at.  :)

[SKL]

I did have times in my life when I didn't read.  The one period I remember was my first few years as a parent.  Just couldn't work it in.  Finally resorted to bathroom reading.  I'm sure my reading decreased during the years when I worked two full-time jobs etc.  But I've always been a book lover.  :)

[Janie Grace]

I was reading obsessed/addicted. I read CONSTANTLY -- under my desk during math class, during recess, all summer, late at night, etc. I still love reading; I don't feel like "myself" if I don't have a book going. My dh is a reader, too (though he probably goes for longer stretches between books than I do). Of our kids, only our dd17 seems to love reading the way we do. The boys just want to do something active/competitive. The older ones will pick up a news magazine and will read books when made to (and enjoy them, discuss them intelligently, etc), but they don't choose it. The younger ones read because they are required to and don't complain -- they get excited about what they are reading. But they never read by choice, for fun. It mystifies and saddens me. 

[Guest]

All I ever did was read. My weekends were like this - ballet class on Saturday morning, come home, lie on my bed and read all Saturday afternoon, read all Sunday.

 

I'd still rather read than do anything else.

 

As a child, I used to be very put out when my mum would make me stop reading for meals. I swore that when I had kids, I'd never make them stop reading just to eat! I'd have a 'read at the table' table. That's about the one parenting 'I will' I've kept to over the years. Want to keep reading over dinner ? Go for it.

This. Substitute riding lessons for ballet and I was identical.

[MotherGoose]

Yes definitely. I read a lot of twaddle though.

[bettyandbob]

I wasn't. I read early, before K. After I learned to read I realized my dad was dictating what could be read by us. The message I got was everything was not good enough. So I just didn't read. What was the point when someone was going to yell about wasted time and needing to only look at a select group of classics. That atmosphere took all the fun out of reading. I didn't read for pleasure until I was an adult.

 

Thankfully my older kids are readers. Oldest read everything in sight from just before his fourth birthday. DD took longer. She insisted she didn't know how to read, but she started writing at 4. She was 6 before she would admit reading. She was 10 when she really started to read a lot for pleasure. They are both in college and still enjoy reading for fun.

 

Youngest has disabilities and doesn't read, but I still work on that skill.

[AnnE-girl]

I have been at least since second or third grade. I read and owned an embarrassing number of Sweet Valley Twins, then Sweet Valley High books, along with Babysitter's Club. I started reading Anne of Green Gables in fifth grade and read the whole series within a year. My mom gave me her high school copy of Jane Eyre when I was in seventh and I moved on to Jane Austen books around the same time. My dad took many pictures of me asleep on my book in bed with my glasses smashed against my face from those years. I would read until I fell asleep and he'd mark my page, take off my glasses for me, and shut off my light. I don't read nearly as many real books now, but I want to. My attention span is lacking when I feel like I only have a few minutes to steal here and there during the day. I need to set aside and prioritize my time better.

[Word Nerd]

On more than one occasion, Mom made me take a break from reading and go outside to play.

[Guest]

Yes, but how much waxed and waned. I learned to read early, and we went to the library very regularly. I read almost entirely non-fiction, especially about animals and pets. In my pre-teen years, I read nearly every dog and horse book at my local library. My favorite books to carry around were an old book on horse care and the AKC Complete Book of Dog Breeds. But that did simmer down in my teens, when I morphed more into my writing phase. I wrote every day and, though I read, there wasn't one interest I delved into at the time. I hadn't really embraced fiction much, although I was the only kid in 8th or 9th grade who asked if I could purchase the book A Separate Peace, which was required reading. I also asked if I could buy my Speech class textbook in 9th grade. (By the way, I was not permitted to buy either book, although I do have A Separate Peace now.)

 

My identity as a reader was really sealed in my early twenties, when I first started to realize that some people don't read for pleasure at all! I still read mainly non-fiction throughout my twenties and early thirties. I didn't start delving into classic literature until I read TWTM. I do still gravitate towards non-fiction, but read fiction mostly due to book club choices or recommendations by friends.

 

My oldest read early and voraciously and reads a lot of fiction. My oldest son does not read for pleasure, except graphic novels or technical manuals. (dH is the same way.) My youngest loves stories, but enjoys being read to more than actively reading. But I think it's likely that he will continue to read for pleasure, or at least, listen to audiobooks for pleasure.

[lmrich]

I could ride my bike to the library as a kid. One summer I decided to read everything on a particular shelf in order.  It was a fiction shelf with the authors' last names beginning with C. Why I thought this was a good idea... I do not know. 

 

Regardless, I read a lot and often. On long car trips, I had to have at least 10 books. 

 

I still love to read and still love the library. 

[MercyA]

As a child, I used to be very put out when my mum would make me stop reading for meals. I swore that when I had kids, I'd never make them stop reading just to eat! I'd have a 'read at the table' table. That's about the one parenting 'I will' I've kept to over the years. Want to keep reading over dinner ? Go for it. 

 

We were always allowed to read at breakfast and at lunch. My husband thought it was such a weird thing when we got married, to read and eat at the same time! I thought it was weird that he didn't. 

 

It is such an ingrained thing that I actually can't just sit and eat when I'm by myself....I have to be reading something!  :)

[Jaybee]

I could ride my bike to the library as a kid. One summer I decided to read everything on a particular shelf in order.  It was a fiction shelf with the authors' last names beginning with C. Why I thought this was a good idea... I do not know. 

 

 

 

Because Beverly Cleary, of course!

 

 

ETA: Whenever we had to choose a book from a list for book reports, I required myself to choose a book that I wouldn't ordinarily read for pleasure. It had to be a challenge book of some sort.

Edited April 12, 2017 by Jaybee

[J-rap]

Reading was one of the highlights of my childhood.  I was the only one of my siblings who had a passion for this, as did my mother.  Going to the library was the most amazing thing.

 

Three out of my five kids were voracious readers too.  Once they got into real life, college and starting careers, it was harder for them to find the time.  

[Junie]

On more than one occasion, Mom made me take a break from reading and go outside to play.

 

My mom used to punish me by making me go outside to play.

[Wheres Toto]

Definitely.  I was always reading.  We didn't have a tv for most of my childhood, until I was in my teens.   We were latchkey kids and if we weren't home when my mother got home, she would call the library.  We were usually there.

 

I'm still a big reader.  I always have at least one book going.  My oldest was a late starter but still likes to read.   Dh barely reads.  The younger kids read as I require it for school and at night in bed.  On occasion a book has really gotten to them and they voluntarily read at other times but it's unusual. 

[lynn]

No. We had a few books, mom would occasionally let us get a scholastic book. Mom read the Harlequin romance novels. The only library we went to was the school library. I made sure my own children would be readers and I read to them all the time, had a good amount of books for them and went to the library regularly.

[Mergath]

Yup. I'd get a bag of twenty or thirty books from the library and be done with them in a couple days. I was obsessed with Sweet Valley Twins (eta: Oh, and Goosebumps!) as a kid, then sci-fi/fantasy as a tween/teen.

 

And it wasn't for lack of the school trying to kill my love of reading. When I finished my work and tried to sneak a few pages of a book while I waited, the teachers would yell at me and tell me I was only to wait with my head down or stare at the wall until the other kids were done working. Seriously. I love that we homeschool and dd can read whenever and wherever she wants.

Edited April 12, 2017 by Mergath

[LucyStoner]

Is the Pope Catholic?

 

I was buried in books from the time I started reading. The only thing that slowed that down was college+working a lot of hours.

[LucyStoner]

I actually still have the same library card from when I was 8. I just use the number/login now but the card still scans and is linked to the same account. It's very 1980s.

[Janeway]

were you a reader? I was. We went to the library once a week and got a stack of books. I even remember getting my first library card. The only requirement was that I had to write my name. I was so proud! I did play outside with friends, but I definitely spent some time every day with books.

 

My kids were all readers when they were young. Now they've outgrown it. It's odd. DH and I are huge readers. I don't know why our kids lost interest.

Computers? Because that is definitely an issue here.

[Word Nerd]

My teachers didn't care if I read at my desk as long as my work was done and I put my book away when we moved on to a different subject.

[EmilyGF]

Yes, we knew the librarians personally. They still recognized me decades later. I still max out my library card.

 

My daughters have finished all the Roald Dahl, Wizard of Oz, and Beverly Cleary books in our library (in addition to others...).

 

Emily

[lllll]

nm

Edited April 13, 2017 by _ -_-

[Outdoorsy Type]

Oh yes, and if my mom kicked me outside, I brought books with me. I used to pack a bag with a plum, a water bottle, and a book, then I would climb up into my favorite tree. It had the perfect spot to rest my back on the trunk, and the leaves hid everything but an opening that looked out into a field of cows. It was such a lovely place to read.

 

I had a slow down of reading for fun in college, and when I first had children. Then, I was back to reading and I read a wider selection.

 

ETA: my children enjoy being read to, and they enjoy reading non-fiction at night, but they don't pick up huge novels for fun.

Edited April 12, 2017 by Outdoorsy Type

[DawnM]

Yes, although I would choose social time with friends over reading.

 

But I grew up without TV, so that left me very few options.

[luuknam]

Yes.

[Amy in NH]

I used to say I wanted to go to jail when I grew up, so I could just read all day.

[MercyA]

Yes, I loved to read. The librarian in our small town had my card number memorized. That was when they used the little stamps on the end of pencils. :) I could look in the books and see when I'd checked them out before. She would save new books for me, too.

 

When I was in high school, I was the first page the library hired. The librarians were tired of shelving all the books themselves! I worked there for four years. It was a wonderful job. They bought me a little crystal clock when I went to college. It's on my mantle now.

 

My daughter goes to the same library now and is a voracious reader, as is my husband. It seems like I don't have time to read anymore, but I'm okay with that. 

[Mrs.Wilson]

I loved reading as a child.  It was a way of escaping my childhood.  My stepmom used to forbid me from reading as a way to punish me.  I don't have much time to read now, unfortunately.  My children and husband love to read.  Every spring and fall we look forward to the library sales.  

[Carol in Cal.]

I was an over the top bookworm, to the extent that I would look for labels to read at the table (where we weren't allowed to bring books if anyone else was eating at the same time.)  I still read a lot.  I read in the bathroom for at least a few minutes every morning, and I read with lunch.  And sometimes other times, too.  

 

DD was like that until DH got her some kind of internet capable device, and that was it.  Screens ruined it forever.  It was a shame.

Edited April 12, 2017 by Carol in Cal.

[JulieA97]

Yes loved to read back then and still love to read. I always, always, always carry a book with me. Dh does the same thing.

 

Someone upthread mentioned reading at meals. Yes! I remember going to a friend's house and they DIDN'T read at every meal. Once a week everyone was allowed to read during the meal. This horrified me as I read at all meals, and at all times. My sisters would pull pranks on me like moving my bookmark if I left my book in their vicinity. My parents would take away my book and send me outside as punishment. I read in school when I finished my work, in the car, in the bathroom, pretty much all the time.

 

I still love to read and am working on finding more ways to make time for it. We are doing all we can to make ds a reader too, time will tell I guess. He is just 5 and I told him the other day that once reading stops being so much work, he will enjoy it more. He does love for us to read aloud to him.

[OneStepAtATime]

Yes. I read voraciously. I do not remember a time when I didn't read. My parents read all the time too. So did my brother. But we had no electronics in our rooms and the Atari was in the family room so time on it was controlled. Only one TV in the house (located in the family room) for many years and my dad was usually watching sports or documentaries on stuff I had no interest in. Friends were fun to play with but we moved a lot. Friends didn't last. Books did.

Edited April 12, 2017 by OneStepAtATime

[Pawz4me]

Remember reading contests in elementary school? To see who could read the most books or the most pages? I always won those.

 

Thankfully my parents never cared if we read at the table. My brother and I almost always did.

 

Screens haven't stopped my boys from reading. Neither has time to read a lot for pleasure due to college, but they do read. They prefer reading e-books on their phones to "real" books, however. But I can't argue with that since I vastly prefer my Kindle to "real" books.

[Carrie12345]

Yes.  I read everything and anything within reach.

I was very confused when my mom and aunt flipped out when they found me pouring through my aunt's copy of Cosmo around 10 or 11.

[Ausmumof3]

I was but different life stages make it hard to find time and screens are a constant distraction. I read less now but I'm more likely to read something substantial. I used to read a lot but a fair amount was fluff.

[Lizzie in Ma]

Absolutely.  My Mom would kick us outside and I'd bring a basket of books, my cat and some snacks and read up in my tree all day.

Both my kids are still avid readers at 16 and 20.

[ScoutTN]

Huge reader then and now. Slacked off some on novels and light reading while I was in grad school because of the volume of heavier reading.