When Did "Bedtime Stories" End for Your Kids?

I think it's great. And she wants to be with mama. She doesn't want the ritual to end yet.

You can read to anyone at any age.

Kids are 9 and 7. Sometimes read to them but mostly tell stories. My grand ma told me stories till i was well until high school. I miss that.

Keep it going as long as you can. Reading to your kids is about the best thing you can do. Give yourself a pat on the back for raising a girl who loves books.

Cherish it while you can!!

At my home, we had bedtime rituals. My daughter is almost 20 and 2nd yr college student. She lives on her own in a condo we provided about 20 minutes away. I treasure our special times we had when she was home and right now I treasure our nightly texts or conversations.

It never gets "old" to me.... It's our relationship and how we work.

ETA: Spot on Laurie!!

I read to my daughter until 12, and I still would but she has too much homework to get to do that.

I recall speaking with our school librarian about how we loved reading to each other at bedtime. She said to continue to read to her as long as possible.

Listening and learning to retain information is a very important skill.

I also recall reading so many great books to her over the years, we as a family loved those times. Harry Potter ended up being very important in our lives.

We even read to each other on road trips. We listened to books on CD.

If you do not want to or do not enjoy it, get dad to do it. They will gain a closeness.

Also Books on CD are wonderful. We used to check them out at the library and we purchased a ton of them over the years. Let her listen to them before bed time.

She is 11. In about 7 years she will be in college. It seems like a long time, but it really, really goes by very fast. And then they are living their own lives. You will never get this time you could be sharing together, ever again.

Here is my response as a mom, a reading junky, and a reading specialist. I love bedtime stories! I remember still getting bedtime stories long after I could read on my own. My college roommate and I still read bedtime stories to each other once in a while! As long as she wants them, I would keep doing it. You can set a limit. One chapter or one picture book. Don't throw out picture books! There are some fabulous picture books for older kids-Patricia Palacco and Chris Van Allsburg to name just two if my favorite authors. I tell parents all the time that reading to your kids should not stop just because kids can read on their own. The 5th grade students in our school love read alouds. I know middle and high school teachers who read aloud to kids. There are soooo many benefits!! Keep reading to her as long as she wants you to.

My daughter is almost 11. I will read whatever she wants me to read. We've kept about 20 of our fave little kid books (The Giving Tree, I Love You Forever, The Wild Things) and she sometimes picks one of those for us to read to her at bedtime. Kid books are awesome and help keep the imagination alive. That being said, she also spends at least 30 min every night reading her own chapter book. We are also reading the book Wonder together aloud.

We left off reading to each other sometime in middle school.
Now we each read to ourselves next to each other at bedtime.
Our son turns 16 end of Oct.
We both love reading and we love reading together.
Bedtimes stories will be done sooner or later and you will miss it.
Enjoy it as long as you can!
And when the time comes - I look forward to bedtime stories with grand kids!

My kids still love bedtime stories. They are 11 and 9. I let them get ready for bed..shower, PJ's, teeth, face wash. Then we pick one of their beds and I read a chapter book to them or the occasional picture book, if I feel like it. Then they get to read in their own beds for another 30 min or so to wind down. They love reading with mom so much that I use that to encourage them to get in bed on time. Oh, and if I'm too tired to read, they volunteer to read to me. It works well for us.

I think this is precious time, and I don't plan to give it up until my kids make me! Right now, my older child is 8. Yes, we read chapter books, not board books now. But I love reading books - and then talking about them - with my older child. I find that it's as rewarding, if not more, than reading to a toddler.

For bedtime routine - I send him upstairs to get ready for bed on his own - PJs, brush teeth, etc. But he lets me know when he's ready to get into bed, then I come up and read to him for about 10 minutes.

oh, well into their teens. okay, 'bedtime' stories not so much (they often stayed up later than i) but i read to 'em until i couldn't catch them any more to trap them into it. nighttime, breakfast, whenever stories. they were in their 20s before i finally gave up corralling them to listen to 'the night before christmas' on christmas eve.
i have issues.
:) khairete
S.

We read together at bedtime until she was in high school. She's grown now, and sometimes we still read to one another.

I was still reading chapter books to my kids until about age 9, books like Harry Potter that were interesting to them but a little overwhelming.
I actually liked this routine, but if you are not enjoying it anymore there's nothing wrong with changing it.
Just be honest, say "sweetie, reading out loud is getting tiring for me. How about we lay down and just read our OWN books, quietly together for 15-20 minutes or so?"
She probably just likes the time with you (which is awesome) but I don't blame you for wanting a break.
When they were older we read in the evenings on the sofa, not in bed. Once they went to bed they had a reading light they could use if they wanted to keep reading on their own.

Honestly, I wish I'd continued longer, but he was an early reader and I was SOOOOO tired in the evenings!

I think midway through kindergarten, we pretty much switched over to "read quietly in your room for 20 minutes and I'll be in to tuck you in."

These days (8)he reads about 200 pages a day, and I can't keep up, so I have no idea what's going on in his books. I tried to read the Oz books with him this summer, but he went ahead without me, and it was over :)

If your kids are still into bedtime stories, I say hang on to them!

They haven't ended yet and I have a 14,12 and 8 year old.

Our routine.

Family scripture reading. Family prayer. Then they all head off to brush teeth, pajamas and read or do homework in their rooms (depending on age and homework load) Then they read in bed. Right now I am reading to the younger two a book about the recent tsunami in Japan. They were begging me not to stop....nail biting anticipation with each page. We will finish it tonight and they can't wait. It is well below our 12 year olds reading level and above our youngest's reading level. We choose books we want to read..not what is at our "level".

Our oldest will read to us at varying times throughout the day or have us read to him. He loves to read and often will say, "Mom...mom..come here. Read this." Then we talk about the book. He regularly tosses me a book and tells me, "You have GOT to read this!!"

Just a couple weeks ago he handed me, The Maze Runner. He said, "Be prepared for the craziest,scariest adventure of your life!!" It was so funny. Then he said, "If you finish it, we can go see the movie together!" I told him, "It's a date!!"

Books have been such a huge part of bonding for our family. My husband and I have spent countless hours laying in our kids' beds as they read to us. Sometimes reading US to sleep :)

We went to weekends only when they got old enough that they were busy with after school stuff, and then homework (sometimes past bedtime).. and this also created different bedtimes for them. Before, they pretty much shared a bed time. But when son hit about 6th grade (11) and had a few late night sessions trying to finish up projects, we sort of let stories go by the wayside. Daughter was only 3rd grade (and 8 yrs old) so we still did them on weekends or nights when it was slow (no karate class, no major homework still being finished).. but by then, she already preferred reading her own books. She read early (and often) and still always seems to have her nose in a book. Loves reading. So it wasn't like she was missing out on anything really at that point.

I don't think 11 is too old if she enjoys it, and you aren't swamped with other things at bedtime. Believe me, as the mother of a 13 yr old daughter, you will long for the days when she is nice to you and wants you to do snuggly things with her. Pretty much when hormones kick in, you will annoy her every second no matter what you do or say. Enjoy it while you can.

I haven't routinely read to my kids at bedtime for awhile now, but I still occasionally tell them a story at bedtime. They are 12 and 14. I never did chapter books though, just singular stand alone storys.

If you don't want to read then I guess you shouldn't force yourself to do it, but research shows that older kids who are read to have larger vocabularies and better comprehension than those who only read on their own.

For a while, I had GD reading to me (chapter books) for bedtime reading. After a while, she asked if she could just read to herself. So that's where we are now - she reads for about 30 minutes before lights out.

Please reconsider the idea that it's "ridiculous" to read to your nearly-11-year old. Not hating, just puzzled that this would be seen as an inconvenience. My daughter, now 13, still asks me to read to her if she's sick but otherwise, we mostly ended regular bedtime reading around fifth grade, but largely because she was so busy (evening dance classes) and also reads a ton on her own and reads at bedtime too. I'd love for her to ask me to read to her, any time.

Your daughter is asking for time alone with you, interacting with you. Very soon now she will not want that any more. It's wonderful that she is so comfortable with you and enjoys your company enough that she still wants this and does not feel it's babyish to ask (because it isn't).

Soon she also will have homework that extends into the evening, and/or activities that take place in the evenings, and will be too busy and too tired to crave this from you. It will end naturally through those kinds of changes; why end it yourself earlier, when she still asks for it?
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Please think about why you want to resist this--do you feel it means she's immature and you want her to be more mature somehow? Is it possible that she just wants to keep the comforting rituals of bedtime in place as she navigates a new school year, harder schoolwork, etc.? Or do you have other kids you are putting to bed and you feel she's trying to get attention at that time of night? What's the source of your resistance? Just something to step back and consider here.

If the issue is that you are busy with bedtime with your other daughter and it's inconvenient to read a story, can you read one thing to them both or are they far enough apart that they can't enjoy the same books? Or do you have dad there to help with bedtimes so he and you can take turns reading to the 11-year-old, and you don't feel you're having to do it every single night? What about having the older child read to the younger?

My kids are still younger than yours. My oldest is 8. But, I did read somewhere that story time is still important as they get older. Age appropriate--as you're doing. It helps increase vocabulary, improve pronunciation, help with recall, etc.

When my kids started bringing home reading from school that replaced bedtime stories, so about grade one. Instead of reading to them they read to me.

ETA: When we go camping I always bring a book of ghost stories to read to them by flashlight.

My son is 11 great reader.. I stopped reading about 3 years ago. chapter books didnt' work for us because he would read them on his own and I would get ticked not knowing what was happening in the story.it sounds childish of me but we were supposed to be enoying it together and I wasn't getting to enjoy it..
I do still tuck him in and talk to him and sing him his good night song