As a mom in my early 40s, I haven’t really caught on to the new age of reading on my kindle or reading on my ipad. I will admit, I have read on these devices in the past, but find myself leaning towards hardback, printed books if I had to choose.

For my children? I definitely don’t want them learning to read on devices. I have a 7 year old and 9 year old and fight the good fight every day to limit the use of their iPad/tablet. These devices are great for traveling and occupying the kids when needed, but not for the most critical skill we all learn at an early age, learning to read. Study after study gives us the data that reading books is better than reading on devices. If this is true in general, it is even more applicable for our children.

For example, in two separate 2013 and 2014 studies, one of school children and one of adults, Anne Mangenand her colleagues at the University of Stavanger in Norway gave groups of people with similar reading abilities texts to read, with half reading electronic and half reading text on paper. Afterward, the readers completed a test to gauge reading comprehension. In both cases, the people who read the texts electronically did worse than their paper reading counterparts.

In addition, there is no way I’m sending my kids to bed with their electronics. There will come a day when we need to ban all devices from bedrooms (I assume, we are not there yet). If I allow them to read on devices before bed, I can just imagine the distraction of videos, games and social media that I’m sure they’d rather be doing than reading.

To close, no devices for reading before bed. I will read with my children. They can read to me and I will read to them, cuddled up in bed.

If your family is anything like our family, we are very busy with work, activities, commitments and homework. Check out My Bookworm Box to take one more "to-do" off you plate. 

We will provide you with the books for your children to read to you and for you to read to your children, cuddled up in bed.