It is so common for toddlers to become obsessed with things that almost every parent you talk to has countless stories to tell you about their child's obsessions and the funny stories that came about because of them.
Stopping at every dock you see to sit for a while and watch.
Grandpa calling to tell you every time boats and ships passing by, telling you to pack up the kids to come watch.
Renting a really interesting new marine lives movie, only to watch it, literally, three times in a row.
We all get the image and we have all been there, in one way or another. Whether it's ships or trains or Princess Barbie, the drill is the same. Those sweet, little munchkins live it and breathe it until we think we just can't stand to watch any more the sailor movies for the rest of our lives.
There is a really productive way that we can mold with all of this toddler obsession, though. We can utilize it as an opportunity to turn out little ones into bookworms! When little Deen wants nothing but more plans, airplanes, airplanes and give him just that. Take him to the library and show him just how many books about airplanes there are.
This would be a fabulous opportunity to get your child their own library card and let them begin to check out a few books at a time. Let your child notice that they can go back and check out more books when they finish the ones they have. They will begin to enjoy and understand the concept of libraries and that they work on a borrow system and that the books are not theirs to keep.
As a special surprise, you can bring home a book about airplanes (or cars, trains, princesses....) from the bookstore that is their very own to keep. You can put it on their bed so they find it when they go in their room and then you can explain to them that that one is their very own to keep.
Toddlers don't, of course, have the longest focus spans, so they might not want to read entire books. And that is just fine and let them have ample time to decide how much of the book they'd like to hear. They might want to just look at it all by themselves.
They might not express interest in the books at all. The best approach in that case, is just to leave the book where they can get to it and/or see it. (If it's a paper book and they need supervision, you can leave it on a high shelf where it is still visible.) Leave it 'lying around' and let them discover it or re-discover it on their own. Forcing them to sit down and listen to it before they are ready will send the wrong message about books not exactly being pleasant. If it is where they can see it, and they watch you reading from time to time, they will eventually come back around to it. After all, it is a book about airplanes!
Stopping at every dock you see to sit for a while and watch.
Grandpa calling to tell you every time boats and ships passing by, telling you to pack up the kids to come watch.
Renting a really interesting new marine lives movie, only to watch it, literally, three times in a row.
We all get the image and we have all been there, in one way or another. Whether it's ships or trains or Princess Barbie, the drill is the same. Those sweet, little munchkins live it and breathe it until we think we just can't stand to watch any more the sailor movies for the rest of our lives.
There is a really productive way that we can mold with all of this toddler obsession, though. We can utilize it as an opportunity to turn out little ones into bookworms! When little Deen wants nothing but more plans, airplanes, airplanes and give him just that. Take him to the library and show him just how many books about airplanes there are.
This would be a fabulous opportunity to get your child their own library card and let them begin to check out a few books at a time. Let your child notice that they can go back and check out more books when they finish the ones they have. They will begin to enjoy and understand the concept of libraries and that they work on a borrow system and that the books are not theirs to keep.
As a special surprise, you can bring home a book about airplanes (or cars, trains, princesses....) from the bookstore that is their very own to keep. You can put it on their bed so they find it when they go in their room and then you can explain to them that that one is their very own to keep.
Toddlers don't, of course, have the longest focus spans, so they might not want to read entire books. And that is just fine and let them have ample time to decide how much of the book they'd like to hear. They might want to just look at it all by themselves.
They might not express interest in the books at all. The best approach in that case, is just to leave the book where they can get to it and/or see it. (If it's a paper book and they need supervision, you can leave it on a high shelf where it is still visible.) Leave it 'lying around' and let them discover it or re-discover it on their own. Forcing them to sit down and listen to it before they are ready will send the wrong message about books not exactly being pleasant. If it is where they can see it, and they watch you reading from time to time, they will eventually come back around to it. After all, it is a book about airplanes!
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