I tried reading aloud in a super unserious way, and all my previous struggles vanished. Enjoying 'My Father's Dragon' with my 7 and 5-year-olds 📖

Everyone,
do you read aloud to your children!?

I'm a lazy person.
I'll read with them if asked, but
it felt incredibly empty
to be speaking so earnestly
when they wouldn't even turn to look at me,
so I didn't do it proactively.

In the meantime, my eldest daughter started reading both Japanese and English on her own around age five,
and my youngest daughter never
responded to my attempts at reading aloud,

so for a very long time,
I carried a feeling of being unrewarded.

Meanwhile,
a turning point occurred thanks to a book I found
during my Golden Week decluttering.

It was the timeless classic,
'My Father's Dragon'.

My education-minded mother had sent it to me years ago,
saying, 'You have to read books like this to them!', but

my eldest daughter wanted to read books with an ending by herself, and my youngest daughter stubbornly refused to listen to anything she wasn't interested in,

so I completely lost motivation and left it aside.

It was a three-book set that I'd barely read,
and I thought, maybe I could sell it for a decent price on Mercari?
But...

I remembered how, when I was in kindergarten,
I would wait excitedly for my teacher's emotionally rich reading sessions,
and how I fell in love with the Elmer stories and

re-read them many times when I was in first grade,
so I couldn't bring myself to get rid of them.

I remember reading on some expat or international school-related note
that the Elmer books were used as a textbook or assignment (sorry if that's incorrect),

so I decided to try reading them to my current eldest and youngest daughters
before letting them go.

To my surprise, it was a hit with both of them right now‼️

I'll summarize the tricks I used at that time in this note☺️📖

1. Luring them with 'I'll give you 10 yen' 🎣

My second daughter won't even look at things she's not interested in, but
she becomes surprisingly obedient when there's a cost-benefit calculation involved.

'If you listen to Mommy's story next to me, I'll give you 10 yen'

When I dangled cash like that,
she at least came over to sit next to me 😁

2. Touching their bodies, expressing with the body 👯

Even after coming over, my second daughter kept looking away.

So, using the illustrations and the situation as a guide,
I decided to try reading while playing with our bodies.

First, the scene where he hides inside a burlap sack
to sneak onto the ship to cross to Tangerina Island.

So, I covered my second daughter with a blanket,
'Oh, what is this bumpy thing!?'
and tried touching her elbows and knees.

Also, the scene where he crosses to Animal Island
by hopping across the 'hopping rocks'.

On the way, he steps on a whale's back.

So, I tapped my second daughter's body
going 'hop, hop, hop,' and for the whale scene,
I made my arms like a mouth and
tried covering her whole body with mine.

Both times, she giggled
and said 'Do it more!', focusing her attention on me.

Once that happens, reading aloud is a piece of cake.

3. Trying to imagine the strange parts 😐

When you re-read it as an adult,
there are so many strange settings unique to picture books.

...With a jackknife,
and with a young boy's strength at that,
could he really cut a rope that easily?

Also, the dragon is being held captive on
the shore opposite Animal Island,
and he gets food on Tangerine Island, but

...No matter how hungry you are,
isn't it impossible to eat seven of them in a great hurry?

So, I decided to think about the 'world's strongest rope' with my eldest daughter,
and imagine
how many tangerines one could eat at once.

My eldest daughter also said, 'That's weird, right!'
and told me how she would feel about it.

4. Asking questions in a quiz format 🙋

The protagonist, Elmer,
heard about the dragon from an old cat,
and in order to outsmart the ferocious animals,
he brought various things from home.

After entering Animal Island,

'Now, (eldest daughter/second daughter),
how would you get through this!?'

I ask a quiz in the middle of the chapter like that.

Surprisingly, my second daughter also gives answers close to the correct one,
making the sisters good opponents for each other.

5. Mess up the reading speed and pitch ⇅

When a jittery mouse appears, I try reading in a super-fast, high-pitched voice, and when a lion appears, I might read slowly in a super-low voice, then suddenly speed up to create a sense of being attacked.

I've started thinking of it as part of pretend play,
and I read while fully embodying the animals.

Unlike playing house, where you have to come up with the setting from scratch,

since there is already a story,
I just have to follow the script and perform,
which surprisingly suits my personality.

Reading aloud is something I can do now that they are older.

Even if you're told you have to read books from a young age,

if the audience's reaction is lackluster,
the performer loses motivation, right?

Because their imagination has grown,
and their comprehension has improved,

I think the parts they can enjoy while listening to stories
have increased.

And by making reading aloud
part of our playtime,
the bond between parent and child might just get a lot closer!?

You can restart reading aloud at any age.

With that conviction,
I plan to continue enjoying the world of classic stories
with my children ♬

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section ☟

Don't forget to like and follow ♡

~ Bonus ~

I spent three years at a kindergarten
that was all about play.

In middle class, we had the Elmer series read to us,
and in senior class,
we had 'The Story of Doctor Dolittle' read to us.