Helping them Select Books

Yesterday, after the boys had taken rock wall climbing class, swim lessons, and had lunch, the afternoon stretched before us like a barren desert. I needed to clean the house and Nick needed a long nap, so we had things to do, but the older three didn't. It was really hot outside, so outdoor activity wasn't appealing.

Their solution? DS, Wii, or TV.

My solution? Board games and reading.

I won (this time)...

After Ben and Matt had played Ben's version of chess for an hour and a half (Matt had never played, so Ben was "teaching" what he had been learning from Scott -- but bent the rules to fit a win for himself), they were officially "bored." I suggested they go into the office and get some books that I had recently bought. They are being stored in a large rubbermaid container, which presents a problem.

I watched as Ben looked at the few books on top. "There's nothing I want to read here," he announced. Nevermind that there are about 200+ books in the container. There just wasn't anything on top.

So I helped. I took out about 15 and started talking about them as I picked them up. Lo and behold, I hit jackpot on two that were under there.

One was a nonfiction book about the Valdez oil spill. He is extremely interested in all things oil spill since we watched Dateline last Friday. He has tons of questions, and this tied into his wonderings. The second was a Magic School Bus about the Ocean Floor. I told him he may like that one because it will tell him about the creatures that may be affected right now in the Gulf.

He was happy as a clam and ran to the nearest couch. I didn't see him budge for the next hour, and when he did, he had tons of new information to teach me from what he read.

So my lesson: help them see through the piles, the stacks, the rows on the shelf. Talk through some books and why you would find them interesting or why they might. You will, I promise, find one that fits.

It's like that needle in the haystack, or the cute dress at Ross...you have to dig to find them!