Story Snack

When our boys were young, part of our bedtime ritual was for A and I to read them a story or two in bed. It started with simple books like "Goodnight Moon" and "The Hungry Caterpillar". As the boys grew, so did the books, colorful pictures were replaced by wordy paragraphs. Eventually, the boys began reading on their own and parental participation fell to the wayside. They enjoy reading and I like to think that we had something to do with that. We value books in our house, as our shelves can attest. I think the boys learned early on that, when perusing a gift shop on vacation, look for a book. Mom and Dad rarely say no to a book.

There are some books both B and N have read and enjoyed but they've also each chosen their own path. Fantasy and science fiction are popular genres but they do occasionally stray into other areas. N went through a phase where he curled up each night with "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare" and B's reading list lately is dictated by English class. He's reading "To Kill A Mockingbird" now and recently finished "The Catcher In The Rye".

Back in those wonderful early days, we had another bedtime routine. Each night, before stories, the boys would have a small snack - usually a bowl of cereal or ice cream. I'm not sure when it happened, but at some point, it was decided to start the story portion during the snack. This probably happened about the time the books started getting more involved and time consuming. I recall there was a brief time when the boys would be read to during the snack and then retreat to their beds to read on their own. Today, the boys do all their reading on their own.

They do, however, still like a snack before bed and, in our house, it is still referred to as a "story snack".