Your listening to 3 in 30 takeaways for moms episode 145. How to make reading with your

kids more fun and less stressful.

Welcome to 3 in 30, a podcast for moms who want to create more meaning in motherhood.

Each 30-minute episode will feature three doable takeaways for you to try at home with your

family this week.

I'm your host Rachel Nielsen. Thank you so much for being here.

I'm a former high school English teacher so it probably comes as no surprise that I love

reading to my kids. I always say that books are my secret weapon to get through their

hard behaviors and this is especially true for my oldest child who loves stories as much

as I do. When he was little, if he was throwing a tantrum, I would simply sit on the ground

and start reading a favorite storybook aloud and he would stop crying and run over to

sit in my lap to read. It was like magic. Now that he's older, I read aloud to him when

I can tell he needs connection with me or if I'm trying to calm him down when he's

agitated or worked up. Just a few months ago when he fell off his scooter at the park

and got some really bad road rash, he was crying so hard that he wouldn't let me clean

the cuts. He couldn't calm himself down and he couldn't be reasoned with. So I turned

on Harry Potter unaudible and laid next to him and stroked his hair and tell he calmed

a little and then I got up and took care of his cuts while he was engrossed in the story.

Magic I tell you magic. It was quite a surprise to me when my second child wasn't as naturally

and immediately engrossed in stories as her big brother. She has a really active playful

temperament and she always wants to be up and going so it's harder for her to sit in

my lap and read. It was then that I realized that sometimes you need to employ some strategies

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