Reading Out Loud

I have been reading out loud ever since the girls were born. When they were itty bitty I would read nursery rhymes mingled in with the latest John Sanford novel, Better Homes & Gardens magazine or the Baltimore Sun.
 Naturally, as they got older, the books became more relevant to their age group; however, I can't count the number of times that I have found them gently paging through one of my novels (sans pictures) or sitting in the living room enjoying the new recipes for the season along with the hot paint color trends for bathrooms. (Back in Minnesota I even caught one of them quietly looking through my mom's old Chemistry textbook).
However, I still have been caught a few times reading out loud (to myself) while waiting for the water to boil or sitting down to relax after the girls go down; Dave comes in and says "who are you talking to?"

I caught these two videos a few weeks apart of Lucy and Stella reading out loud.This is a great example of what goes on in our house.
Notice how Stella says "cheese" in both once she realizes I am there. Oh, and pardon the mess:)

"Where are your Manners??"

I usually think of this phrase being spout out by an adult (usually a parent) when their child burps really loud in public, among other things. While it''s embarrassing, it's not exactly harmful.

Yesterday, Dave was playing outside with our girls. There were two 3-year old girls in the neighborhood that were outside as well. One of the girls hit the other one and the girl began to cry. She ran back to her mom and her mom said "Don't cry, hit her back!"

I was floored on a couple different levels. First, that the mom actually said this to her child (did she actually think that was the 'right' thing to do?); second, that our kids will be influenced by their peers more and more as they grow.

There has been a lot of literature that argues kids are really influenced more by their peers than their own parents (what???? AAAH!). Judith Harris wrote a popular book in the late 90's called the "Nurture Assumption". She argues that "besides passing on genes, parents' nurturing probably has less impact over the long-term than other aspects of children's environment - such as their peers." (pbs.org) When you think about it, it makes sense. In order for a child to survive socially in their environment they tend to take on their peers accents, attitudes, and gestures. This is why a child raised in the US with foreign parents will talk like their peers (American accent) as opposed to their parents. Hmmm... do I want Lucy and Stella to take on the Baltimore accent? :) Is the Minnesota one any better? :)

This does not mean that we as parents don't still have a tremendous responsibility. We may not have total control over their peer situation, but we have some power to place them in a peer environment where they will hopefully learn the things we want them to. So, our neighbor thinks its OK for her toddler to hit back... we will try to keep the girls at a distance (at least while we can).

So back to "Where are your Manners??" and the non-harmful things our kids may do?

While I am guilty of the burp or two (just ask my mom) sans excusing myself- I am proud to say that our little 2 year olds say"please" and "thank you" (frequently 'thank you' for both) "excuse me" (or scuuuuseeee) when they toot, and I sneezed today, and for the first time I heard Lucy respond "bless you"!