When my son was little, I read to him every night, until he was about 10. At some point I started reading the Harry Potter books to him, butnhe outgrew the nightly readings before the series ended. So as each subsequent book would come out, we would resume our nightly readings. The final book came out when he was about 13, but he still wanted me to read it to him.
I had voices for each character, and once on a long road trip, I got one of the HP audio books from the library to listen to. After about 2 chapters, he asked me to take it off because he liked my voices better.
That’s a huge parenting win right there.
Absolutely, it made us super close. He’s now 27, and and we are still best friends.
That’s the good parent award right there. You should be proud of yourself, it isn’t always easy. My own son is a bit younger but we have the same thing going, building computers together and whatnot.
Meanwhile I haven’t spoken to my violent alcoholic excuse for a father in almost a decade. If I manage to outlive that asshole I’m going to his funeral solely to tell everyone exactly what a piece of shit he was.
My best advice to parents is: Love what your kids love, and your kids will love you.
I agree wholeheartedly.
My eldest daughter and I did this as well. It gave us a super tight bond. I had major medical problems when my other kids were young and they didn’t get the same attention. It’s obvious and I have had to work extra hard to build similar bonds with them.
I do this for my wife any time she doesn’t start reading her Nook before bed. It makes her happy, and usually puts her to sleep. The Nook just keeps her awake.
My partner isn’t really a book person, but they’re a big gamer and sometimes when they play a game specifically for me to watch and it doesn’t have voice acting, they’ll do voices and read it for me. It really is just so fun and makes me feel so special? Like it’s worth all that effort just to entertain me
I read Outer Wilds dialogues and texts for a dyslexic friend ::)
It was fun !
This is probably my favorite game of all time! Thank you for helping to spread it to others!
This is kinda like a thing my wife and I do. She’ll play a game and if she loves it, she’ll ask if I want to play it too so she can watch.
I’m currently playing South of Midnight and it’s wonderful.
It really is magical.
I read to my wife sometimes, since she enjoys it and it seems to help her migraines for some reason.
But it doesn’t have to be a partner even.
Back when my body betrayed me and I had to quit working, i was depressed as fuck. My best friend would sometimes just sit and read to me. We got through the entire narnia series eventually. Ngl, it was part of what kept me alive through the early stages of it all
Read to your homies, folks
That is a really really good friend. Hope you are still friends.
Best friend for over thirty years :)
I’ve been on both sides of this and, yeah, it’s pretty unexpectedly hot and/or sweet. Once had a girl recite Chaucer in the original Middle English from memory. Pretty good. Prettyyyy, pretttyyyy good.
This is so freaking cute, I’m so happy for them !!
It’s honestly great, I used to have a partner that we would take turns reading chapters to each other. If we went on a road trip the person is the passenger seat would read while the other was driving. We would read many nights. Immersive worlds and characters would give us new things to talk about and get us thinking/talking about what might happen when we weren’t reading. When we went to work you’d find yourself thinking/yearning to be back with them so you could experience more of the stories together. The adventures of the characters seemed to push us to want to venture out and travel more as well. Ive never went on as many trips as I did in those years. We lived and dreamed together, it was wonderful.
I tried doing this for my wife but she called the experience strange. I kind of enjoyed it though.
Maybe pick a better book than I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.
I was reading the Hail Mary Project by Andy Weir. She finished it on her own, so I must assume it was my reading.
Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics 2 ed.
impossible
I’ve been reading bedtime stories nightly for 23 years now and I’ve a good six or so left before I’m out.
If you want to try again in the future I would gently suggest listening to a few audio books from really good narrators. It upped my game quite a bit.
Also, even for an adult, Charlotte’s Web. Incredible story. Easily my favourite of all time to read to others and gripping from page one. Think I’ve done it seven times now. God damn I love that book so much.
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Honestly… Fucking goals…
Likely true, yes.
‘“Space Raptor Butt Invasion” by Chuck Tingle, chapter one…’
Ah, starting with one of his more vanilla novels, I see.
I used to do this over the phone for my partner when we were in high school
This was before you discovered sharks I assume
It was shark highschool
I read to my fiance pretty much every night, we both really enjoy it. Or sometimes I will make up a story to her, like I will ask her “what do you want to hear a story about tonight” and she’ll say “flying fish” or something… it’s funny though it makes her fall asleep so quickly she never remembers what I was reading/talking about, but she says it’s very comforting.
Long distance relationship, started reading to my partner on the phone call before bed last night. One of the best things ever.
This is the best. An ex gf and I were going on a short 2 hour road trip the day after Harry Potter 7 came out. We stayed up alternating reading chapters to each other.
The next day in the car her and our friend both read aloud from where we left off. We got stuck in traffic for an extra 2-3 hours but time flew by.
It’s one of my favorite memories.
Ngl. Literally crying reading this. That level of connection that I’ll never know 😭💚💚
that I’ll never know
I know this might come off as a joke, but it isn’t.
Not with that attitude!
Seriously, I don’t know your circumstances but nothing is insurmountable.
It’s so interesting how beliefs like this do indeed make the reality that way.
Step 1 attract a mate
