Bedtime For Frances

My kids have become obsessed lately with reading books. When they were young I made the attempt to read to them regularly, but they really just weren’t interested. Now they can’t get enough. We read before nap time and before bedtime, and I typically find my voice going hoarse before we’re through. But it’s been fun to bond with them this way, and it’s one of the few times Collin will hold still for more than two seconds. Their favorite book has been “Bedtime for Frances”, and the story is about a little raccoon that is having trouble going to sleep at night. She comes up with one thing after another to go to her parents about. First it’s a tiger in the corner and then a crack in the ceiling, and so on. Well her parents are of course very patient, until about the tenth time she goes in there and then her father tells her she will get a spanking if she doesn’t go to sleep, so eventually she does sleep. Every time I read this story to the boys I think they are going to get ideas in their head about bedtime, and just assume that because Frances’ parents are so nice and let her have a glass of milk and a piece of cake after she’s been in bed, that their parents will do the same. I mean really, they have to be smarter than that right? Well last night my worst fear was realized. They came out of bed after being tucked in, and insisted there was a crack in their ceiling. After we dealt with the crack, it was something else, and it wasn’t until I actually spanked their little bums that I got them to go to sleep. Now I’m wondering if I should allow them to hear that book before bedtime anymore. It’s a bit of a bad influence on how bedtime should be.
On another note, Talin learned about astronauts at school today, so the first thing he did when he got home was try on the astronaut costume he got for Christmas. He was so cute, he then insisted I take a picture of him and put it up. So here it is. NASA here he comes!