My Delinquent Reader

I had to make one of the toughest decisions of my life the other day, and it took a couple of days of failing miserably trying everything else before I bit the bullet and made the tough call that has made me feel guilty ever since...

I took the books out of Rosalie's room.

*cries*

I have always been an advocate of reading. I believe the accessibility to books is a key part of harvesting lifelong readers at a young age. I have always dreamed of having kids that become readers like me, but I was worried that for whatever reason, they wouldn't take to it. Every child is different, so in theory, it might be that they just don't end up with a preference for it. But I was relieved when Rosalie started getting excited for books, and no story before bedtime was a threat that would get her butt in gear (not a harsh threat, but a "if you don't get your pjs on, there won't be time for a story", which is a completely empty threat, there is always time for a story...). At the beginning of the month, I started catching her asleep in bed with a book clutched in her arm, like most kids do with stuffed animals. I was happy! It was cute!... but be careful what you wish for.

Rosalie and her books have gotten completely out of hand at night. She went from grabbing one and apparently reading it until she fell asleep, to pulling out a dozen books and covering her bed with them. Most nights, I lie down next to her bed until she falls asleep or until I get too uncomfortable to stay on the floor any longer (that is becoming more frequent and happening after shorter periods of time the larger I get), and on the nights I leave before she falls asleep, I would check on her every few minutes and tell her to lie down and go to sleep, but if I got distracted doing something else, or had an "at the end of this chapter" moment, I would always find her out of bed with books covering her bed. Sometimes even after the few minute checks she would already be back out of bed grabbing books. I tried sitting outside of her room, but the discomfort thing always eventually wins. I asked Roland to check on her, but he is worse than I am for getting distracted by other things.

So one night, after she had been in bed for over 2 hours and had yet to fall asleep, and I had taken her books and put them back numerous times, I finally put them in boxes and hauled them to just outside her room. And less than 5 minutes later she was asleep. Out cold. I put them back in her room the next morning, hoping it was an isolated incident that would not continue, but it did. After 3 or 4 nights of pulling the books out of her room, they are now indefinitely outside her room... and I have guilt over this. I, myself, like to read before bed, but I am denying her that opportunity.

So at this point I guess we just have to wait until she can understand that there is a time and a place for reading, and while you are supposed to be sleeping is not one of them. So, she should get that by the time she's, what?, 16? 17 years old? :/ ;)