If you’ve ever looked at my Instagram, you’d know that if I had to save one prized possession from a fire, it would be my Kindle. It is, hands down, one of the best things I’ve ever bought. And as I’m a flaky shopaholic, that’s an achievement.
I’m so enamoured with it that, naturally, I wanted to share the enthusiasm and bought the kids Kindles too. That worked brilliantly with my son, who seems to have inherited my bookworm tendencies. If he isn’t kicking a ball, he’s usually stuck in a book.
My girls, not quite so much.
I still wanted all of my kids to enjoy reading, so over the summer I tried something different. Instead of suggesting the sorts of books I thought they should read, I started enticing them with books they considered a little more grown up. Less children’s fiction, more thrillers and books they’d actually heard people talking about.
Somehow, without really planning it, we ended up with our own little book club.
There’s nothing particularly formal about it. The girls take it in turns to choose a book, I read it first to make sure I’m happy with the content, and then they read it afterwards. That’s essentially the entire system.
What I hadn’t expected was how much I’d enjoy everything that came with it.
The books have given us things to talk about, sometimes including topics that might have felt a little awkward if I’d simply brought them up out of nowhere. Talking about something a character has done, or a situation in a story, makes those conversations much easier. We’re not necessarily talking about them, but we’re still talking about things that matter.
It’s also given us something that’s becoming increasingly precious in our house: time together.
Solo parenting three children means attention isn’t always distributed neatly, and life with a younger child who often needs more hands-on support can easily dominate the day. My girls are getting older too, and naturally becoming more independent, so I’m noticing our time together changing anyway.
I think that’s why I’ve become quite attached to our slightly makeshift book club.
It’s our shared hobby that doesn’t require much planning, doesn’t cost us very much and gives us a reason to keep coming back together, even as their lives gradually become busier and a little more separate from mine.
I have no idea how long it will last. School is becoming more serious, GCSEs are starting to appear on the horizon and I’m realistic enough to know that reading Mum’s latest book-club choice might not always be high on their list of priorities.
But I’m not worrying too much about that yet.
For now, we have a little stack of books, plenty of opinions about them and something we genuinely enjoy doing together.
And even if it dwindles over Autumn as routines creep back in, I hope they’ve enjoyed our summer of reading as much as I have.
