Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Works for Me Wednesday: Story Tapes

Its Wednesday and even though the balance here between mommy blog and political blog has been leaning strongly towards politics these days I want to join Rocks in the Dryer for Works for me Wednesday! In part, because it is the everyday mundane activities of motherhood that keep me grounded and sane enough to contemplate world affairs and in part because each week I've gotten several good tips from the WFMW folks that make my life easier.

One thing that works for our family is story tapes at bedtime. I nurse my babies to sleep, then with toddlers nurse and read books at bedtime, eventually, we just snuggle and read aloud. But its often hard making that transition at age 4 or so to falling asleep on one's own. Story tapes fill that gap. We still read aloud at bedtime (and my husband is a master of made-up tales) but story tapes (or CDs) after our reading is done give us more time in the evening and still let the bigger kids drift off peacefully.

Chinaberry is a great place to get wonderful story tapes. A Cricket in Times Square has to be my kids' all time favorite. They will listen to it night after night. Jim Weiss is another treasure. He is a storyteller who has a whole series of tales and peaceful images designed to help kids fall asleep. They work on adults too (the winter cabin with the hot chocolate and the sleighbells makes me nod right off).

Peaceful bedtime, works for me!

9 comments:

Trisha said...

Great idea! Especially when you or the kids are having trouble drifting off.

Blackeyedsue said...

What a good idea! I think I may be making an investment VERY soon.

Beck said...

I LOVE JIM WEISS! We like story tapes for long car trips!

Mama Duck said...

That is a good idea ;). Thanks for sharing!

Lori said...

Great idea, gonna have to check out thoes sites.

Eagles Wings said...

Great idea thank you for sharing. I'll have to try it!

Rebecca said...

Story tapes are great! When my kids were in elementary school they would listen to books while cleaning their room together.

It also encouraged them to begin reading more challenging books.

Carol said...

And they're great for road trips! What did our moms do without them? Do we even want to know?

Susanne said...

Love this idea! I hadn't heard of Weiss, so I'll have to check him out. Thanks!