Hello! I am Filza aka Mamma Filz. I was delighted to be asked by Claire to discuss my Bookhabit bedtime routine for my little ladies. I am mamma to a 4 year old and 1 year girls and we live in Newcastle upon Tyne. We are book enthusiasts and we love to share over on my blog http://www.mammafilz.com and on Instagram too @mamma_filz.
My eldest and I have always enjoyed sharing stories and I’ve always enjoyed those extra cuddles before bedtime. Completing a bedtime routine now for two children, well it certainly gets more entertaining and perhaps a little more tiring too.
My husband’s job can require him to travel away a lot and as his destinations are so varied, long haul and short haul, it can sometimes include being away in weekends too. When he is home we get both our girls ready for bed or one of us tidies downstairs while the other baths the girls and gets them dressed. We are both normally done by the time its time to snuggle up together and share a story. Should he not be home of course things are different so I shall share what we do when that is the case.
I don’t bath my girls each night and sometimes we have showers as they are much quicker! However, if it is a bath night I bath both my girls together complete with bath toys which may consist of bath books, wind up toys and something they both love, sponge letters.
Once out the bath, I get them both out at the same time, (eldest snuggles in her towel while I get the youngest changed) we are set for brushing teeth and prepare for story time.
Books are everywhere around our home, in baskets, on bookcases, low shelving and in boxes. I have always wanted books to be easily accessible for my children and I really believe that it is important in creating a positive relationship with reading in your home. It is also great for children to be able to explore a range of books which not only exposes them to a variety of texts but also allows them to find what they like and dislike in the form of literacy. Adding to that I also think it is important for children to see adults modelling reading and bedtime stories are a great opportunity for that.
In my 4 year old’s bedroom, as well as having some low shelving that my 1 year old can also access, she has some shelves which are home to frequent reads but don’t hold as many books. These avoid searching for favourite books and it is also not far from her bed which is rather handy.
With the help of these accessible shelves my girls choose bedtime stories. When I am parenting alone I like to read stories to them together. My girls choose a story each, sometimes more and we share the book together. Occasionally if my youngest isn’t enjoying the book my eldest has chosen, she tends to get busy with books that she has chosen herself. I don’t disturb her or direct her to listen and just let her enjoy her own quiet reading time and she re-joins when she wants to. As she’s getting older though I find that she is able to be attentive for a longer picture book read and adores carefully looking at illustrations.
After sharing stories we might talk about the book or expand on points in the story that my girls may have highlighted. We then say some bedtime prayers in Arabic and I kiss them goodnight.
Some of our favourite reads these past couple weeks are pictured in the shelving below.
Some of these picture books I’ve shared in more detail over in my blog. The Girls (https://mammafilz.com/2018/07/30/touring-picture-book-club-the-girls-by-lauren-ace-and-illustrated-by-jenny-lovlie/)
Zeki Gets a Check Up (https://mammafilz.com/2018/05/25/book-review-zeki-gets-a-check-up-by-anna-mcquinn-and-illustrated-by-ruth-hearson/)
I love you a big as the world (https://mammafilz.com/2017/03/02/i-love-you-as-big-as-the-world/).
We are considering having my girls share a room together soon. Perhaps bedtime routine will change, perhaps even become a little easier? We shall have to see.
Thank you Claire for having me visit.
Filza
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Filza, thank you so much for taking the time to share your bedtime Bookhabit and some of your girls’ favourite reads with us. It’s been lovely to find out a little more about you. I think I will be coming back to this post and rereading for inspo when I reach the stage where baby Bookhabit can have a shared bedtime story with her big sister!
Claire x
Our Bedtime Bookhabit
We get our heat packs ready, brush teeth (with much resistance) and faff about until I’m able to convince him that it’s time for bed, after some yoghurt and strawberries, that is. It’s 6:30 and we’re both ready for bed.
My son started sleeping in my bed last year, which means bedtime stories are now shared in our big, comfy bed. Darcy the cat is often involved too, mostly against his will.
We read four books at night. We tend to stick to current faves for a few weeks, then I try to introduce a new book into the mix. We’re currently reading Billions of Bricks, Superman; an origin story, Gaston and Stickman (an old favourite brought back by my son).
At this stage they are all picture books, a mixture of fiction stories about animals and non-fiction. Space and dinosaurs have been hot topics over the past year. My son’s recently shown an interest in comics so that’s an exciting genre for us both.
This book starts with the notion that not every day will be perfect but with a positive attitude you can find a silver lining. It also gives children the really powerful message that that their behaviour can have a positive effect on others and help them to have a better day. It has a short repeated phrase ‘Pass it on’ giving children something to join in with even on the first time of reading. As with everything she does, Sophy Henn’s illustrations are vibrant and beautiful and by the end of reading it you will be smiling. I have read this with pre-schoolers and with much older children. My class are 7/8 years old and when we launched our acts of kindness this was the book we started with and they loved it. It really is a fantastic way to introduce to children (and adults) to the notion that they can make a positive difference to others.
Elephant is in a seriously bad mood until he discovers a surprise package at the front door. Inside is a hat. This instantly cheers him up and he decides to take them to his friend, Zebra’s house but when he gets there Zebra is also feeling grumpy. So Elephant shares his hat with his pal to cheer him up and they move on to visit the next friend (also grumpy) and the next and the next, each time cheering up their friends by sharing the many-layered hat with them. By the end of the book everyone is taking part in an informal hat parade, their grumps long forgotten because of the actions of their friends. This book beautifully illustrates that small act of kindness make a huge difference.
This book tells the story of Bear who is feeling unwell. Bear is a pretty dramatic chap and does not cope well with being ill so when his friend Mouse finds out he’s poorly, he decides to pop round and try to help. It is not easy to help Bear. He wants the situation to be treated seriously and does not feel like being cheered up. (It is worth mentioning that Bear thinks he may be dying and there is a conversation about leaving a will in case your child is sensitive to these issues. The tone is quite light hearted and it is clear that neither the mouse or the author thinks he will die and that bear is over-reacting but not every child will respond well those issues). Eventually all mouse’s good intentions wear Bear out and he falls asleep and wakes up feeling much better, but now it’s Mouse’s turn to feel ill. Luckily Bear knows just how to look after his friend and is happy to reciprocate. This is probably best suited to slightly older children as the storyline and language is quite mature in places but it is a really interesting look at the tricky side of friendship and illustrates the importance of looking after each other, even when it’s tough, perfectly.
I have seen lots of lists lately which give ideas of books which should be staple reads during childhood an in my opinion, this should be on every one. I can still remember the first time I read this story and the way I felt about the completely selfless act Bella performed so that her little brother could be reunited with his favourite toy. One of the things I like best about this story is that it showed that this wasn’t an easy decision- sometimes doing things for others is hard. However, if Bella was ever in any doubt that she had done the right thing her brother’s reaction more than makes up for it. I believe everyone’s book shelf should have a bit of Shirley Hughes’ magic on it and this is a great place to start.
The Little Gardener is a tiny figure who works all day but he is so small that he feels that, no matter how hard he works, he cannot make a difference to the place where he lives. Eventually, when he is exhausted and almost ready to give up, he makes a wish that he might have a little help. The Little Gardener falls asleep for a month, during which time some children see a flower in his neglected, overgrown garden and decide to start tidying things up. When he wakes there has been a dramatic change and the Little Gardener’s life is changed forever. This message in this book is so strong because children can see things from both sides- that it’s okay to be like the Little Gardener and ask for help and have hope, but also children have the power to help others every day through small acts of kindness even when they don’t know who they are helping. Emily Hughes is one of my favourite author-illustrators and I love everything she does. This was the first book of hers that I read and I still return to it regularly- sure sign of a winner.
It’s worth saying that she is four years old and has no siblings. Although the timings have changed a little with age, the routine has been pretty much the same since she was in her cot.
Finally…
Recently it was my little magpie’s birthday (she is known as the magpie because she is constantly hopping around and has always had an eye for anything sparkly). It had been an exceptionally busy week with me going back to school after the summer holidays and her starting at her new school nursery and so I had had to be very organised with all the birthday planning and it wasn’t until less than a week to go that I realised I had almost forgotten something very important- her birthday book. She couldn’t have a birthday without a book so I started to think about all the things on my ‘To buy’ list which she might like and scrolling through instagram and all my favourite book accounts to see if there was something she would love. As a looked down my feed I saw the ‘Brambly Hedge’ account pop up with ‘Autumn Story’ and I knew it would be perfect.
As it happened I bought the ‘A year in Brambly Hedge’ box set. The little magpie is very interested in seasons at the moment and so the fact that there is a story for each season is perfect. But also there was a little selfish part of me that wanted the books for myself because I remembered reading them and being in love with the intricate illustrations when I was little. For anyone who has not come across these books before they are as quintessentially British as any Beatrix Potter or AA Milne story. They follow the lives of a community of mice, shrews and voles who live in the hedgerows, trees and bushes of the English countryside.
The author has taken time to give each of the characters its own personality and they are often featured across the different books so you feel like you get to know them a little bit. They have quite a lot of text in each book but all the stories are exciting- a surprise birthday picnic for Spring, a riverside wedding in Summer, a little mouse lost in the woods in autumn (my favourite) and a Snow Ball in winter- but it’s the illustrations that really draw you in. They are so detailed and as a result the more you look at them the more you notice. What I loved when I was little, and still love now, are the intricate cross sections of the trees where you feel like you can look inside their houses and see the little creatures busy in their homes. I spent many hours looking at these and they still fascinate me today.
As English animal stories go, these books have all the warmth of a tea party at Pooh corner, mixed in with the adventures of Peter Rabbit but because they were written much more recently (the 1980s) the language is easier for our modern day children to understand. If you are a fan of AA Milne and Beatrix Potter, these should be on your radar! It’s also worth mentioning that they are the perfect size for little fingers as they are small hardbacks which all come in a presentation box. They look so lovely on their shelf- is it just me or does everyone find a set of books like this really satisfying?
alittlebookhabit 