• I hate when I hear people reading to kids and they sound so dead pan and monotone. I mean, really, how can a child’s imagination grow and become immersed in the story that way? It made me pay more attention to the way that I read to my kids.

    I absolutely make all the crazy voices and animate my entire body along with the story.

    I absolutely make all the crazy voices and animate my entire body along with the story. I probably look like a fool. But I know that my kids are completely engrossed in the story. They can imagine each character clearly because they can actually hear their “voice.” Perhaps other people don’t do this because they are worried about how silly they look and sound. To this I say, forget about it! Lots of things we do as parents make us look ridiculous. I’d rather look crazy and raise fantastic readers than the other way around. I decided to take this idea further by reenacting stories once we finish reading a book or scene. I figure, this way not only do the kids and I have a blast, but I am reinforcing whatever message or theme that was in the book. Awesome right?

    The only problem this has caused is getting the kids riled up before bed. So now, we don’t do so many stories before bed, instead we do them right after breakfast! I am so shocked to see how far this has gone. We easily spend an hour or two reading then pretending we are characters from the pages.

    If you haven’t tried this with your kids, you really should. Or if it is just not your cup of tea, at least put in that effort into reading the stories with the crazy voices. Crazy voices go a long way for happy kids.