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I'm just curious as to when you find recieving books (the baby friendly board type) acceptable? I am not too fussed I am just curious if anyone thinks it as unthoughtful or unsuitable (as a gift) for babies of a certain age?
I'm wary of growing clothes as they are grown out of so quickly!
My DS loves his board books, probably because he just likes bashing them together!!
I would accept books with open arms at ANY age!!
DD still reads her "baby" books even though it's been chewed and drooled on and looks like ... well, something the dog dragged in.
I would even accept STORY-books (big-girl books) now ... you can always put it away and take it out later.
The gift on knowledge is NEVER unthoughtful of unsuitable ;) I'm telling everyone to give dd some books this year for christmas ... if I get another teddy for her, I'm going bonkers.
i don't really understand the question
i would say thank you for the gift
books are such an important part of learning and discovering for a child
the board books are great for the tiny ones, they can't damage them
i think they are a wonderful gift
i would give a board book to a baby with pride, hoping that baby would play with it and have it read to them.
my nearly two year old loves her in the carseat too, we have some small ones that are a great size for the car seat (don't get tangled up in her safety straps). THey keep her entertaining on the car trip.
her favourite is the baby's version of Possum Magic. National Geographic do some wonderful young board books too.
Agreed Nadine, only SO MANY teddy bears one child can have! it's ridiculous.
:p Thank you Yoda :p:
Agreed Nadine, only SO MANY teddy bears one child can have!
Resist I could not, sorry :lol:
ps. Did not know NG does board books .. going to search the net for them NOW!! DD LOVES watching Nat Geo Wild
I would say... in the first trimester. That's a bit early to start reading to baby. But it's a thoughtful gift that will be appreciated VERY soon. Or maybe TTC, then it's a bit rude, especially if you're LTTTC. Or just got your period.
You can never have too many books.
Oh Ryn you crack me up!! Heheh.
Excellent, I don't know why this struck me as something people might not appreciate, it just did, so I thought it was worth asking to see.
I also realise i wrote growing in the first post, instead of giving :doh:
I love getting books for Sam! He loves the board books so much, he turns the pages himself already.I never thought about that before though...I gave a girl who had a newborn a book a few weeks ago, I hope she appreciated it.
I'm one of those annoying people LOL who gives ALL kids, regardless of age, books for their birthday/Christmas! Some people love it, some are less than enthusiastic.
I wish more people would give my DS books! Out of all his presents last Christmas, he got ONE! :( (Apart from what we gave him I mean). Same for his birthday.
I prefer it when people buy my boys books! I think books are the best thing, they're educational and they encourage togetherness when it's story time. Both my boys love books and DS2 LOVES board books. I don't think you can go too wrong buying books as a present!
I give books as pressies too.
I think that if you can encourage and make reading fun you are winning half the battle, by giving a child a book, they are more likely to want i=to read it and by surrounding a baby with books and book experiences they will benefit from the value.
DSS has sooooo many books its not funny, the only thing that we are lacking are board books as i missed that stage of his life, we read often either together or he now will read alone, he loves books and it is so fantastic to see a child curled up with a book instead of wantiing to watch TV.
So to answer your question, i would be suprised if anyone found a book, board or other. I certianly would be grateful :)
we too request books for DD she has HEAPS!! and im always getting her more!!
I had a whole library of kids books before I even had kids (I am a teacher and it is a great excuse to by books ;) ) I dont think kids are ever too young or too old to have books, and I dont think that any household can have too many- especially when your toddler becomes obsessed with the same one and you have to read it 10 times a day until it gets 'lost', it is nice to have a wide choice of distractions!
Books are the gift that keeps on giving! I can't think of a better gift to be honest and people who don't appreciate books are probably the ones who need them the most :D
I would definately prefer a book for Jazz to a teddy bear (OMG we're suffocating in cuddley toys!), at any age. Any type of book. In fact we just bought her two big Disney board books for Christmas, and I'm really hoping to get lots more.
The way I see it... I'll buy clothes for her when I need to, I'm not going to NOT buy clothes, they're pretty necessary, I'd prefer gifts to be something that isn't an essential, because I'm less likely to buy it for her myself (YKWIM, I wouldn't NOT buy it, but compared to an essential like clothes, nappy wipes and food, books and toys aren't the highest priority).
I love books! If anyone ever asks what to get the kids I always tell them a book unless I have something else in mind. Most of the time I will give a book, especially when I don't really know the child.
I would accept books at any age! you can never have enough board books for the kids!
my bro's kids are 8, 6 and 4 - and get books every year - have done since, well, before the eldest was born!! i bought them a heap of the scholastic disney collection (prolly about 50 books). when DH and I started TTC, we decided to start collecting books for our kidlets early - we've got 50 odd disney books, 40odd beginners dr seuss, alphabet and maths books, thomas, disney princess, care bears, pooh bear books... all are sort of geared at older kids - so when the Gremlin arrives, i'll be actively encouraging the board books so that we can start early!
fwiw - my DH is mildly dyslexic, as is my bro. DH and i talked it over and decided we wanted to encourage reading as much as possible as neither bro nor DH were shown to have issues until they'd basically been pushed out of the school system. with DH reading to our bubba - if he struggles, it will show our kidlets that it's ok to not be perfect kwim?
My mum bought a series of pooh bear books for DD when I was pregnant.
DD had book fair at school this week, and she got a book for herself and she picked out a book for DS as well. I'm thinking of getting DS The Very Hungry Caterpillar book and the hungry caterpillar toy for xmas as well.
Nic
I always give books to our friend's kids!! Books were such a huge part of my childhood so I think they are really important.
i'm another book addict here - I find it very hard to go past a book shop without going in, and there are sooo many gorgeous kids books out there.
Aside from all the educational/time with Mum & Dad benefits, the other reason I like books is that for the most part they don't make annoying noises - unlike toy trains etc ;)
From birth! Natty got two books when she was born and I thought it was a brilliant gift. I will often give my friends' new babies cloth books.
BG, DH has severe dyslexia. He reads to DS loads and loads - the words are big, which helps a bit, the background colour is often off-white (which helps him a LOT) and there aren't too many words per page, and each page is repetative. Also DS likes the same book over and over again, which helps even more.
We BOTH want DS to know reading is fun and that both Mammy and Da do it. DS picks out books over toys at the supermarket now - if he doesn't go for fruit, that is! He sits and "reads" aloud to himself now. If DS has dyslexia (my dad has it mildly too) we want to give him the impetus to keep trying to read.
We have soooo many books for when DS is a bit bigger too (too long for him atm) and I can't wait to read something longer than Dear Zoo or Hide and Peep In The Night Garden to him! (FWIW, I love The Tiger Who Came To Tea but DS leaves as the tiger does usually.
i'm glad to see this is something that someone else believes in as well Ryn! i have no reading dramas so for me to read to our Gremlin, it will be simple. For DH though, he will possibly struggle with character names and things - it will be good for our Gremlin to see that even daddy asks for help sometimes.
i'm hoping we have a bubba like me that loves reading - i have always loved reading - losing myself in a story that let me escape reality. i read to my bro's kids whenever they ask. get frustrated when they read to me, but that's more of a "i'm not used to it" thing! i'll learn to be patient pretty soon!
I like it when Claire gets books as presents. I prefer it to, say, a soft toy, or a chunk of plastic. She LOVES her books, especially board books with the touchy feely bits. We've also got some other books. She just loves any books, as long as theyre small so she can hold them properly.
Every night before she goes to bed we read a book together. She goes to her bookshefl and chooses a book and I read it to her. Sometimes she wants a second book. When she wakes up from her nap, she'll go to her shelf and get out a book and "read" it (look at the pictures, lol) to herself for a while. Then once she's over the book, she'll call out to us.
I love giving books as pressies!!!!!!!!!
they can be really special presents.
Jacob allready has a good selection of books from gifts
It is the best gift you can give, as it keeps on giving. (and not just for me; I buy them and take the tax deduction as well :-)
- before 1 year of age they benefit just by holding board books and turning pages.
- between 1 and 2 they start to notice the patterns in your voice and learn about intonations such as questioning and exclamations. It also buys them precious time with parents who read to them
- between 2 and 3 the language in their books extends their vocab. The more books, the better their long term vocabulary is likely to be.
- between 3 and 4 they can pick which way up the book gooes and are starting to pick out simple letters
- between 4 and 5 they might be recognising words
It just never ends. An I will never forget, I was a nanny for a 6 year old, and we were tidyingup her room. we came upon her copy of Guess How Much I Love You, given to her at birth. She was so excited, so in love with the book, that we had to read it then and there. For weeks after that, she would take it off to the lounge and read it to herself, then as she got better, read it to her baby sister.
They just keep giving- especially the quality picture books.
Look out for:
Mem Fox
Pamela Allen
Pat Hutchins
Anthony Browne (a bit quirky for some tastes)
Ooh, forgot to mention, Natty uses books as a social tool as well. When we have people over, she is often very shy even when it is somebody she knows quite well. After a little while, she will bring a book over to the person, climb on their lap and demand they read it to her :lol: I think it's adorable: it's her way of welcoming the person, and I think it helps the visitor as well because many people find interacting with a child is much easier when they have a book to look at together.
Also, she's comforted by books - when we drop her off at CC, she doesn't mind who she goes to as long as they have a book at the ready!
Wow great to see so many responses!
Thank you!
I know it was a bit of an odd question, as I really appreciate books too just wondered if its something that others dont!
i often head to the op shop to get books for DD, there cheap and i dont mind if they get wrecked!!
the post office shop often have great bundles of books, i recently got 3 in the night garden books for $10. pamela allen 4 pk for $12.99!! they also have mem fox pks for $12.99
I hate books for the kids...but i always buy them cos i know one day they will benefit from them. I refuse to let Chelsea have them as she just tears them up and doesnt appreciate them at all. both girls wont sit for stories so they live on the shelf collecting dust!
I always buy books for presents and have given books as presents at peoples baby showers. They are a gift that can be used a thousand times and bring alot of precious reading moments. I have already bought some of my fav books for my baby to read to her when she is born. Being a school teacher I am sure she hears me reading stories to my kindy class all the time and I hope that she develops a love of reading as well.
Dont feel guilty about giving them as a present. You are giving a great gift!
Good thread CookieMonster! I always feel slightly guilty giving books for gifts as I work in a bookshop and think people might just think I am being lazy ;) but I see SOOOOOOOOOOO many beautiful books that I cannot resist. DH sometimes mentions that prehaps I should give up work as I spend more on books for myself and DS than I actually make sometimes, but I just can't help it!
My next purchases will be - for a girlfriend about to have her 2nd baby (and her 1st DS is only 15months so she will have everything, its not like it has all been stored out in the shed gathering dust!) - Ten Little Fingers and Ten little Toes by Mem Fox. It is just gorgeous (DS current favourite bedtime book) and perfect for a new bub.
And for DS I am going to buy "No No Yes Yes" by Leslie Patricelli - I think the title is obvious to what we are having issues with lately!
Mrscricket, my Mum works at the State Library and always gives books too - they have a book shop in the building, plus she can order stuff from the booksellers catalogues. I always feel bad giving her a book, but we both love reading so much, its the obvious choice.
I think books are the best present for kids, as Alibaby said they get used 1000 times and they take up much less room than plastic toys that'll sit in the toybox gathering dust, or be strewn accross the floor to be stepped on (or is that just my house :redface:)