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How do you make time for reading?

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  • How do you make time for reading?

    Benign neglect.
    Get out some toys and let the kid have at it.
    Read while sorta watching them at the park or mall play area.
    Put about an inch of water in the tub and read as far from the tub as you can and still see the tub.
    If you need the nap, you could always set a timer for 30 min and then read after the nap. That or nap during a kids show...I fondly remember nodding off to Maggie and the Beast when I was preggp with Henry.

  • #2
    Yep. Right there with you. I FORCE myself to go to bed 20 minutes early when there isn't something on TV I like to watch which is pretty much every night. Other than sports, I tune in to West Wing but that's about it. So...it works sometimes...other times I just fall asleep earlier.

    I have curly hair that I diffuse so when I'm doing that (for those of you without curly hair that means drying your hair so it won't friz ) I read for that time. It works out well but it's not "quality" reading.

    I was an avid reader before kids...now I'm not sure what I am!
    Flynn

    Wife to post training CT surgeon; mother of three kids ages 17, 15, and 11.

    “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” —Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets " Albus Dumbledore

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    • #3
      I try to find some time during nap time, but just as often I fall asleep myself. If I don't force myself to clean, and we all know how exciting THAT can be.

      I also read before bed but have been going to bed so late recently that it's a lost cause.

      Jenn

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      • #4
        I take Oprah's advice to heart that it's good for your kids to let them see you reading. Sometimes I lay in their bed while they are watching cartoons (yes I'm one of those bad moms whose kids have a TV in their room) and read.
        I also deprive myself of sleep in order to fit reading in. It starts of good, I'll read around 8:30 when I've put the kids to bed and next thing I know it's 2am and I can't put the darn thing down.
        Awake is the new sleep!

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        • #5
          Originally posted by SueC
          I take Oprah's advice to heart that it's good for your kids to let them see you reading. Sometimes I lay in their bed while they are watching cartoons (yes I'm one of those bad moms whose kids have a TV in their room) and read.
          I also deprive myself of sleep in order to fit reading in. It starts of good, I'll read around 8:30 when I've put the kids to bed and next thing I know it's 2am and I can't put the darn thing down.
          I do this with a good portion of the "benign neglect" that Tracy mentioned. I used to have LOTS of trouble sleeping, and would read until 2 or 3am. Now medication I take makes me sleepy, but I still read bits before bedtime.

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          • #6
            I used to read in bed before falling asleep. Now that I am in Graduate School I haven't ready anything for pleasure since last year!!
            Luanne
            Luanne
            wife, mother, nurse practitioner

            "You have not converted a man because you have silenced him." (John, Viscount Morely, On Compromise, 1874)

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            • #7
              I do one of the two methods mentioned here generally:

              1)Read once the kids are in bed until my eyes are about to fall out (and, end up cranky the next morning from too little sleep).

              OR

              2)The watchful neglect that has been described above.

              I think number 1 is better for something you don't want to put down or need more concentration for. Number 2 works well with something you can read in shorter chunks due to interruptions.

              Jennifer
              Who uses a machete to cut through red tape
              With fingernails that shine like justice
              And a voice that is dark like tinted glass

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              • #8
                Even though I don't have any kids, it's still very hard to find time to read while at home. If I try to read on the couch or in bed, the cat feels ignored and will get comfortable on top of the open book or start nudging it from my hands. Since I have a long train commute, I read on the train. This way I go through a book a week. The magazines go straight to the rack in the bathroom and are read exclusively there (sorry if TMI).

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                • #9
                  I read at the gym while the kids are in daycare. Sometimes I put the kids into daycare at the gym and go read in the steam room or sauna. Sometimes I even put the kids into daycare at the gym and sit in the lounge eating junk food from the vending machines while I read. I have more trouble finding time to go online.

                  Most interesting book read recently:
                  The Origins of Virtue by Matt Ridley

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                  • #10
                    During the school year, I try to put the kids down by 8 and involve them in chores BEFORE their bed time. This gives me an hour or two to go on a phone binge gab fest or read or work out in the summer months when it is still light out.

                    I really try to limit my kid free t.v. time to a couple of shows, currently Desperate housewives and Frontline. If I'm honest, I feel like my intellect is slipping since I'm no longer in college and I need to do something that stretches my brain a little bit. I go through huge binges of reading in the winter followed by running in the summer. Essentially I am either mentally fit or physically fit, depending on the time of year.

                    Most importantly, however, I just have the love of reading. I hope that my kids get this from me because the siren song of media is a strong force to contend with in our household.

                    Kelly
                    In my dreams I run with the Kenyans.

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