I do theater. Yeah, its just a normal thing i do. I am participating currently in a program called “Summer Stock” which works with students who are disabled. Adults without disabilities are more then welcome to help out with this program, which is what im doing. They are really making incredible magic in this program. The kids are so, so talented! Anyways, enough gushing.

For our Bio’s they asked us to give our favorite bedtime story (well the shorts are all bedtime stories), and why. Now questions started to form in my mind.. One of the main questions i personally had as an adult was:

“What classifies something as a bedtime story for an adult who is over the age of 21?”

I began to think about my childhood immediately. When i was a child, I really didn’t read many picture books (not that i can remember anyways). The only ones that i really remember enjoying were “Where The Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak, “Goodnight Moon” by Margaret Wise Brown, and “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein… I mean when i was about the age of 5 my dad started reading chapter books to me… so i never really read “kids” books. He would read to me “Little House In The Big Woods” by Laura Ingalls Wilder (and i applaud him for creating a trip to South Dakota to go to Laura Ingalls house to see where she lived, that was good parenting, especially when i was curious; Love you dad!) … So from an early age on…. I just never ever read what these kids are reading now!

Its no doubt that i am a HUGE believer that reading to your child, helps the child WANT to read (and we know as adults, reading is IMPORTANT). In fact I want to quote “Reading Is Fundamental” which is a website that illustrates the importance of reading to children:

Reading books aloud to children stimulates their imagination and expands their understanding of the world. It helps them develop language and listening skills and prepares them to understand the written word. … Even after children learn to read by themselves, it’s still Reading books aloud to children stimulates their imagination and expands their understanding of the world. It helps them develop language and listening skills and prepares them to understand the written word. …

Reading i feel is important to a child because it lets them know they can ask “Why”. . . Why is an important question at a young age. Letting a child ask questions is also important because that helps their curiosity grow. What happens behind that is a child sees, or hears… either way they experience some kind of a involuntary sensation upon contact with an object per say… Now children usually know what simple objects are because we have taught them, its apart of learning how to speak. Now the second a child sees the object, its almost like this electricity flows; and they have a thought. The thought is usually “Well, that is funny looking…” “What is that?” “Why…” and then they do the natural thing… ask an adult for help.

“Mommy, why is the grass green?” (And millennial moms say “Look it up on your phone dear” …:) because every three year old kid now has a cell phone)

Actually here is a quote from an article entitled “The Brain Benifits Of Reading”:

The first time children hear a book, they don’t catch everything, says Virginia Walter, Ph.D., associate professor in the graduate school of education and information studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. But as they hear it again and again, they start to notice patterns and sequences, realizing that if one page says, “Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?” the next page will tell brown bear’s response: “I see a red bird looking at me.”

Now, as a child my father used to read to me bedtime stories daily… Here are some modern day statistics about reading (this from The Guardian.Com)

On average, today’s parents read bedtime stories to their children three times a week.

Now back in the 90s believe it or not we had favorite books that were not “Pete The Cat” by Eric Litwin ….

The Times “100 Best Children’s Books Of All Time” list had a few titles i remembered including “Goodnight Moon”, “Where The Sidewalk Ends” by Shel Silverstien, “Harold And The Purple Crayon” by Crockett Johnson.. ,and well… 100 more.

Modern day bedtime stories include:

How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight by Jane Yolen

Pete The Cat by Eric Litwin

And dozens of other titles (By the way- the two above are apart of the show im in)….

Now again not to lose focus, but what about adults? Why is reading important as an adult? I mean most adults do work, we dont really have the time to read… not an excuse.

Contentwisestep.com states the following about why its important for children to read:

Enhances Knowledge

Learning of New Words (Still important as an adult)

New Languages are Learned

Increases patience level

Brings Tranquility

Now were getting to the “adult” part…

Why should adults read?

To help awareness

To reduce stress levels, and depression

Divert the mind to positive behaviors

Give yourself greater understanding of subjects

Build confidence

So yes, I read books as an adult; they are important.

But the books i read are not again what children read!

For example, for my answer to that question i chose George Orwell’s “1984” because to me it is not only A bedtime story but it is THE bedtime story. All adults should read it… I would encourage it.

George Orwell is an author who constantly talks about WW2, and other political aspects in his fictional writing. In this particular book it talks about this organization “Big Brother” that is taking over the world. The book “1984” was an extremely correct interpretation of the modern world in which we live in in terms of the ideas of technology, and ideas of government (the way the world is run). There is a quote in the book where he says something along the line of

“How many fingers am i holding up Winston?”

“Four”

“And if the party says that it is not four but five-then how many?”

“Four.” — 1984 ,George Orwell

I really wanted to choose this book because of the amazing quotes inside of it. I do actually read it before bed. I read it to remember THIS IS THE WORLD I LIVE IN NOW. However messed up it may be.

George Orwell’s novel may appear gory but here is the message this passionate author (who pours his soul into his writing) tells his readers:

The government should not be in control of our every thought.

We have the ability to make our own decisions.

Nobody can control me but me.

Death Penalty is wrong.

The criminal justice system is wrong.

Politics control the world in which we live in.

There is a quote i am going to share not in real relation to this novel, but it truly applies, it’s one of my favorites:

“This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a wimpier.” — Ts Elliot

So what did i do? I picked the book… because for me … this book IS my favorite bedtime story. Bedtime stories we can conclude are simply put … things we would read before bed… Comment what you think below please!