My Kid Doesn’t like Me to Read Stories for Her

My daughter did the same thing. Children are sometimes very grabby and just want to hold or chew on their books at that age.

Everytime my daughter would yank the book from my hand to chew on, I would calmly take it away and say "books are for reading not eating" and then distract her with something else.

We put all the books out of reach and only took them down to read to her. Eventually she got the message and settled down. Now she's 3 and loves me to read to her. I even had to limit the reading time to 2 stories because she would have me read to her ALL night if I let her! LOL!!

Just be patient....

P.S. Maybe the stories you have are too long for her age. One year olds have the attention span of a goldfish. We got these mini books that were cardboard and only 4 pages long. (about 30 words total thoughout the whole book) They seemed better for her until she got older and wanted longer stories.

My son went through a period of time when he loved nothing more thatn sitting amid stacks of his "boofs" just looking, gnawing, and generally being happy.
Forget the Norman Rockwell image of the kid tucked neatly into bed, mom nearby enthralling the child with a bedtime story. That will happen later.
Try this--lie on the floor and grab a book and start reading it silently to yourself. I'll bet she comes over & gets interested.
Also, try reading to her in the morning, afternoon, etc. Bedtime is usually the worst time for a story--when a child is tired.
Good luck!

Hello, This is all normal. She is at an age where she is more interested in being mobile. Sitting and doing nothing but listening may not interest her right now. As far as the gnawing on books, I bought cardboard, cloth and rubber books for my babies and grandkids at this age. They want to chew on everything. My little granddaughter eats paper books (small pieces) if I forget to take them from her when I walk away. We sit and look at and read them, but I can't walk away and leave her with them. She will now sit and listen to a couple of short books or one long one. However, due to short attention spans when they are young, she really likes the short books right now. That will change. I also buy the ones where the child can feel things on the pages. One of my granddaughter's favorites is one which is almost foam. It has puzzle pieces in it. She loves taking them out and seeing wat is inside. Interactive is the best at a young age. I took all of my grandkids to "Story Time" at the Library. A couple of them started before they could walk or talk. They sat in their strollers or on my lap while the older ones sat in chairs at the table with the Grandparent reader. We still go back on vacations to see the lady who read to them all through their early years.
Good luck with your precious little baby.
K. K.

This is normal behavior. Put the nice books away and let her play with books she can chew on, mess up.
Let the anger go!

GL!

Don't be angry. Your daughter will change her mind when she's older. She wants to do things herself. Is she walking? Once babies walk, they like to keep moving, and motion - not books - is what's on their minds.

I suggest you put up the books that can be damaged for now. Do you have any board books? They're a little sturdier. If you have a thrift store nearby, look there and at yard sales for books, and you won't be spending a lot of money on literature that will acquire teeth marks.

What you can do with sturdy books right now, briefly, is to emphasize the pictures. Can she recognize a ball? A cat? A car? Ask her to point them out. When she can do it, praise her. If she's starting to be verbal, point to the picture and ask what the cat says. Make the game very short and sweet - less than ten seconds is all right! - and know that the time will come when she'll want more.

She's only 1, and she's just doing what 1 year olds do. My daughter was the same way at 1...she got better about story time after she turned 2. Even now, at 3, she loves stories at bedtime but I still have to remind her to sit still rather than run around the room sometimes.

When she was 1, I would read to her sitting in the chair next to her crib while she was in the crib. That way, she couldn't just grab the book and rip it to pieces. Stick with board books that are more durable. Sometimes when we "read", it just consisted of her flipping the pages around and describing what was on the page rather than reading the words on every page in order - "Oh, look! Here's a blue dog and a red dog! And here are 3 dogs in a boat! Here are dogs driving cars! Wow, you read that whole book!" If she starts ripping or chewing on the book, you can gently correct her, saying, "No, we don't chew on books.", take the book away, and redirect her toward something else. She's being a normal 1 year old and it would be helpful to adjust your expectations accordingly.

p.s. Bonus points to anyone that can name the book described above. ;)

It's her age. Buy the books where the pages are hard cardboard. Interactive would be nice... ones she can touch to feel soft for a little chick, etc... Don't try and read her a big long story....... she is too little. Find books that are simple that will teacher her about sounds, different animals or colors. Keep it short and sweet.

One idea - maybe she would like books that have flaps throughout where she can lift up the flaps and be more interactive with the story. My kids LOVED those books at that age.

I think 1 is little young for reading with them. Once they get mobile they don't want to sit still. And if you're reading before bedtime it may be her "cue" to wind down - which may be upsetting.

We have tons of books. Board books - most with teeth marks. Soft books that can be chewed on. And for Christmas Santa brought a Sassy picture book. Our 1 yr old likes looking at pictures of family so I filled it with DaDa, MaMa, PaPa, etc. It's soft and squishy and we can put in 8 pictures at a time. We used to have this for our older kids, so we were excited to give it to him this year.

Instead of sitting and reading, try dancing, songs, etc. Your child is likely getting more mobile and wants to move. Also kids love repetitve stories, videos and songs. So do "finger plays" like the Itsy Bitsy Spider. You might have better luck if she can "play" while you sing a song or tell a story.

In the meantime, keep practicing with books...give her a few and you read the paper. You can teach her that it's "quiet play" time as she gets older. It will work wonders in a drs office or in a car ride.

At about 2 or 3 we got our kids the LeapPad Little Touch that has durable books and "reads" to them. It was great for car rides and to get them to play with books and make it fun by letting them use the buttons and read stories themselves. Later we moved on to the regular LeapPad and have tons of books. Our older kids love reading to themselves and got lots of use out of these books which we got off of eBay super cheap.

Best wishes. Hang in there, it's just a phase.

you need to buy books that are appropriate for a one year old. This would be either clothe books that can be thrown in the washing machine or board books or those plastic ones that are soft and puffy that can be wiped off. And reading to a child at that age requires books taht are more just words not really stories as the attention span is less than a minute lol. So more just "look at the red bear, he is sitting" "see the bee buzz..." type stuff no once apon a time she is just not old enough yet. But yay for you for trying. Just keep it up with picture books till she is a little older. she should not at this age have books with paper pages.

One of my sons LOVED to be read to from about 8 months onward. He could sit for an hour at that age having us turn pages and tell the story. Our younger son hated being read to, and he was like your daughter, he would have rathered just play with the book. My younger is now 4-1/2, and he loves being read to. He won't go to sleep unless we read him a story. Somewhere around 4 years old he took an interest in books. Everybody kept telling me that my older son was unusual, and my younger son was typical.

You might also go to the baby area in Target or a baby store because they have fabric books that are meant to be chewed. They usually have plastic corners too.

One is NOT too young to be reading to your child! It's actually great to start at birth. At age one they are very mobile and realizing their independence, so you usually only get one or two pages read before they're onto something else. That's perfectly normal. Keep doing that and you'll find that your reading time is getting longer and longer eventually. Make sure she has board books that are fine for her to chew on. There's even a brand out now at bookstores and Target made of materials ESPECIALLY to chew on!

Don't allow her to grab and gnaw on adult books. Tell her "NO" very firmly and remove her from them. She's only curious. My 2 year old has enjoyed "reading" by himself for about a year now too -that's good -it gets them comfortable with books and lets them enjoy them on their own, which is crucial. She'll start enjoying story time with you more and more as the year goes by.

Don't get upset. This is normal behavior -- and no matter what she does, she is benefitting from you reading to her!

Welcome to the crazy world of toddlerhood. Toddlers are funny creatures -- they do all sorts of weird things for weird reasons. Is is possible that she does not like the story, or you are reading the book too slowly or too quickly, or she is just not in the mood, or she wants to "read" it herself. Whatever the reason, just keep at it, and when she protests, stop. One day, she will LOVE to be read to, and you'll wish for her to stop. How many times have I read "Good Night Moon" or "Is Your Mama a Llama?" On multiple occasions, until my eyes crossed, LOL!

I understand though! My little one did that to me to once upon a time, and it was so frustrating. Then all of a sudden he just loved reading, and we never looked back.

Very normal. As long as she is interested in the books, looking at them herself, even destroying them, it's ok. Just keep trying to read to her, she will like that at some point. My son is 2 now and loves me reading to him, and he likes to look at books himself. Took quite a while to get to that stage though, we have many destroyed books. You can also try taking her to the library to check out books (keep them put up unless you are with her reading them), and see if there is a toddler time there, I started taking my son at a year, and he really enjoys it now.

My stubborn little guy never sat still for stories. Now one of us washes him up and the other one reads to him when he's having a bath. He's basically "trapped" and now requests certain books before bathtime. I wish I thought of this sooner!