Reading and Mothering

As asked on a previous post:

As a mother of 4 how do you find the time to read so many books?

Wellll. . . I only started reading "real" books again about a year and a half ago. To be honest, there was a period in which I only had the focus to turn pages in magazines looking at the pictures.

Now that I have the desire and ability to read again, I just seem to work it in. After the kids are in bed, I like to soak in the tub and read. Or sprawl on the bed and read. Or sit near Hubby as he does his projects and read.

Books on tape are great for the car. I listened to The Secret Life of Bees during the solo drive from IL last week. The boys and I are listening to The Hobbit.

I read aloud to the kids. (Though not as much as I'd like.) Little Pilgrims Progress and The Chronicles of Narnia are favorites for that.

I've read books while cooking. Making jam and jelly provides for good reading time as you stir, stir, stir.

When I was nursing, I tried to find good pick-up-put-down books. Elisabeth Eliot's Keep a Quiet Heart was good for that.

Hubby reads everywhere he goes. He doesn't walk outside the house without a book. This gave him a lot of reading time when we were in Ukraine--on the metro, walking, riding in taxis.

I was an avid reader when I was a kid. I think when you're always trying to find more reading time as a kid, it's easier to find time as an adult.

Personally, I'm never able to read and watch the kids at the playground at the same time. I'm not THAT good at multitasking.

I know I have many bibliophiles reading here--how do y'all make time to read?

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If I have a real page turner I've been known to read while showering...LOL When you love something so much, you find time for it. I was an avid reader as a child too. :-)
Posted by: Jess at June 19, 2005 08:55 PM

Paul is the same as Sabot. Always at least one book. I'm not reading so much these days, though I have fit in Grace-Based Parenting and Shepherding a Child's Heart. Very utilitarian reading, at least that was my intent, but neither book has much to say about infants. They are both very intellect/heart based, which is great, once you can communicate verbally with your child...
Posted by: Lenise at June 19, 2005 09:02 PM

I read every night before falling asleep. The only problem is sometimes I fall asleep after just a few minutes. It motivates me to get in bed earlier so that I can read for a good hour before my head hits the pillow.
Posted by: Sandra at June 19, 2005 10:24 PM

15-minute breaks at work...I always bring a book in the car, too, since I'm tired of finding myself with the unexpected half-hour to kill without my favorite book!
Posted by: Ryan at June 19, 2005 11:25 PM

Hey, I've been wondering how you did it. My Buggy Boy is almost 13 months. I read while he naps. No reading while he is awake. He wants to play with all my books so I have to keep them locked away. I did give him one Hare Krishna propaganda book that someone gave us, and let him tear it up. But he always wants the one that I happen to be reading.
Posted by: Hannah Im at June 19, 2005 11:27 PM

I am so much like you! I love reading in the tub, while I lay down to nurse, in the rocking chair, while cooking...
I can't go to sleep without having read something, anything! first.
Posted by: Amy at June 20, 2005 12:59 AM

My children are older (13 and almost 11), so it's easier to find time to read now. I'm like your husband -- I carry a book with me everywhere I go. When I'm stuck waiting somewhere for an appointment or a child's music lesson, I read. I can't go to sleep at night without reading, and I've been known to sacrifice sleep for some time in a good book. If I have a bout with insomnia, I get out of bed and read.
Posted by: Anne at June 20, 2005 03:55 AM

My kids are older, too, so it's easier. When they were young, I read a lot while they slept. Now, I get up very early and get some reading done then. This year, I read a lot while waiting for music lessons. I had an hour and fifteen minutes one day while the boys were at piano, and then I had an hour and a half waiting for guitar student and voice student/piano student.
Posted by: Kim in ON at June 20, 2005 07:40 AM

For some of us its like asking an alcoholic how they find time to drink.
Posted by: Paul Baxter at June 20, 2005 08:31 AM

I get up early. That is the primary way I find time. If I get up at 5 or 6, it gives me plenty of time to read the Bible, pray and then get into a book before the rest of the family starts to interfere!
Posted by: Tim at June 20, 2005 09:02 AM

Much the same as everyone else: while cooking dinner, waiting at appointments, after the kids are in bed, anywhere I can.

I usually make myself read while the kids are doing "assigned" reading for school too.

I still think you are amazing. ;)
Posted by: sparrow at June 20, 2005 10:57 AM

One of the (few) things I miss about my life pre-children was being able to find a really good book and just keep reading till I was through -- all night if it was a weekend and I wanted to!

My husband is like yours and always has a book with him and reads a little bit every night. I try to read that way now out of necessity, but I do love reading in big chunks and losing myself in a story or a thought. . .
Posted by: Charmaine Yoest at June 20, 2005 12:04 PM

Same as you, really. Reading in the tub, laying on the bed. I also take a book to my son's karate class. I have to stay with him so that's an hour that I read while he is in class. It has gotten easier to be able to read what I want now that he's older. When he was younger I wasn't able to read as much. We also do read alouds.
Posted by: Christina at June 20, 2005 12:59 PM

Read is such an important part in our mental development as Christians, thank you for your inspirational blog.
Posted by: Eric at June 20, 2005 01:38 PM

I read during naps when I have time and before I go to bed every night.
Posted by: kristen at June 20, 2005 03:59 PM

I never leave home without a book or two stashed in my purse. You never know when you will find a few minutes here or there for reading.

Tub time is reading time for me as well as other "bathroom breaks." ;o)

If you keep a book within arm's reach, you can always find a minute or two here and there for reading.
Posted by: Cheryl (Reformed Muser) at June 20, 2005 05:20 PM

I'm single & w/out children, but always revolving through lists of deadlines to be met, relationships to be maintained, &c. Seems to me finding time to read, & knowing how to read when you've got a little time, is a challenge in the typical hyperactive urban/suburban situation no matter who you are, for the most part. Thanks for the post -- a helpful example of creative, purposeful (not to say necessarily 'purpose-driven' -- ha) daily living.
Posted by: paul bowman at June 20, 2005 05:22 PM

I always take a book with me when I need a bathroom break. I also read while drying my hair and putting on makeup, or anything else that requires me to stand still. I usually read aloud to the girls during breakfast and lunch and while the little one nurses before her afternoon nap.

Someone asked me the same question about a year ago. Here was my my response
Posted by: Missy at June 20, 2005 05:49 PM

I don't have children, but I still have to consciously make time to read. It's easy to get busy and focus on "outward" things--and forget to save time for the "inward" activity of reading. I also listen to a lot of books on tape, particularly in the car.

BTW, "Little Pilgrim's Progress" was my favorite book growing up! So glad that you are reading it to your kids.
Posted by: Waterfall at June 20, 2005 07:31 PM

I have to say, I've read more books this year so far than I have in years and its all thanks to my newborn son! One becomes very adept at reading while nursing when they're doing it all the time. I bring books with me everywhere I go which is a compulsion I've had for years. I try to read larger books that stay open or books whose spines I can break.

I guess you have to get very creative nursing a child... the cross handed page flip... the one-hand book hold... the holding the pump with your hands and the book with your toes maneuver. Its pretty fun...
Posted by: Jennifer at June 21, 2005 01:56 AM

I read while I'm nursing the baby. I read in bed. I read to my kids. I read during naps. :)

I find the time.
Posted by: Laura at June 21, 2005 10:01 PM

Anytime I can read, I do. However, with a toddler who is still breastfeeding, I don't read much that you have to concentrate on. I read a lot of things that can be picked up/put down. And tub time is usually used for reading too.

Posted by: Tracy at June 21, 2005 10:15 PM

We have manditory quiet time from 1-2pm. (most of mine no longer nap!) Thats when I read--sometimes I read in the evening. With 5 kiddos around, its a blessing to be a speed reader!
Posted by: Lyn at June 22, 2005 11:01 AM

35 minute busride to and from work = daily reading hour + occassional supplemental reading when the wife is watching something brutally unpalatable on the television.
Posted by: rox_publius at June 22, 2005 11:59 AM

I read after the kids are in bed and during naptime/quiet time.
Posted by: Amy at June 22, 2005 01:08 PM

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