In this case, I'd rather be the odd one out.

I polled some friends and acquaintances recently, and found that of the moms I know, I am the only one who reads bedtime stories each night (or ever) to a 7-year-old. A great many of them said they never read stories on a regular basis, at any age. More said they stopped about Kindergarten timeframe. It seemed weird to me, you know? Erin likes her bedtime stories. Why would we stop them?

Aside from the benefits of reading, which everyone has already heard a million times, I think the routine is valuable. Life, by definition, is unstable, especially for a kid in Erin's shoes. You move, you change schools, your dad decides to go to college at night and you never see him even though, for once, he's not deployed. You have a baby brother after 5 1/2 years as an only child. You get thrown into a school where nobody speaks English, and while you were the most popular girl in your old school, here, you are severely bullied. You make friends, and they all move away. Life is unstable. Something's got to be predictable. Why can't that something be something nice like the knowledge, "Before I go to bed every single night, my mom will read me a story, maybe two."? It beats a poke in the eye, so to speak.

I just don't know why so many people don't read to their kids. I always kind of assumed that everybody did. I was wrong, though. I did some googling on this topic, and found that in the UK, 87% of parents surveyed in a recent study DID NOT read to their kids at bedtime. In the US, different studies report different numbers, but it is always over 50% that DO NOT. It's just another way we're in the minority. It kind of amazes me that we are, you know. I mean, why would anyone not read to their kids at bedtime? I don't get it. How would you put your kids to bed otherwise? Just send them to their rooms and tell them to go to sleep? Actually, no, according to current statistics, turning on a DVD player would be part of the routine. Gag me.

I do not enjoy children's books at all, yet I read to both kids daily. How freaking hard is it?