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.
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.
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
I tried doing this for my wife but she called the experience strange. I kind of enjoyed it though.
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.
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.
‘“Space Raptor Butt Invasion” by Chuck Tingle, chapter one…’
