My 1 year old is obsessed with books - should I be concerned?

[arvi]

My 1 year old always wants books, books, more books.. and sometimes same books. While getting up from the bed, before going to the bed, while taking bath, while going outside, everywhere he keeps asking for books. In an hour, I can say that he asks 10-50 times atleast for books if he doesn't have one.

Sometimes he wants me to read, at other times he keeps reading himself (babbling). He can recognize most of the words in baby books. So while reading a sentence I read few words and he reads (first syllables) those words that he knows.

I am concerned that he is not playing with any toys or any other activities. All are just for few minutes, then back to books. Is this just a phase? Will he overcome with this obsession?

[Skylark]

I personally don't see any harm in baby liking books so much. Its wonderful!

 It does make sense, as it is easy to get bored with the same toys, but there is always something new in a book, pictures, words to study. Also often babies associate books with parents attention, because at the beginning it is something that parents would do WITH the baby, -- and babies need lots and lots of personalized attention. They are ready to learn, more then we can realize.

I would say, -- encourage it, capitalize on it -- teach your baby new things, words, concepts, activities through the books. Then do activities that involve the book. For example read in the book about the ball that is bouncing ( an out of the blue example here  ) and say something like this "let see, where is our ball? Can you get it? Lets try roll it, bounce it, etc" Lets read the word for ball again, etc.

I think it is wonderful that you parented your baby in a way that he developed such a fascination with books. Keep it up!

[khatty]

I can relate, and in my opinion it is a phase.  I had been doing Doman/flashcards/YBCR, etc. for about a year.  I didn't start until my DD was 1, so it was a few months before her 2nd birthday when she could read a few baby books and a few words per sentence while I read the other words.  About that time and for the next 6 months or so, we read about 50 books a day.  Some books we read over and over again.  And yes, we would read in the morning, read at breakfast, I would try to get her to do something else, but she wanted to read. Then we would go to the library in the afternoon and get more books and read, and read, and have a bath and read and then read before bedtime, and sometimes she would wake up in the middle of the night and read.  At the time I thought it was out of control, I was at the library almost every day getting 50 new books and we were reading them all before the next day.  I was also getting concerned that she didn't seem interested in anything else.  She would play with a puzzle or game for a few minutes and then back to books.  Whenever I suggested something else, she would cry.  I decided to just go with it, books are good thing.  After about 6 months of this, she could read almost everything we brought home and then she started to read less.  It didn`t happen over night, but slowly over the next few months, she became interested in other items and read less.  Now at 3 and half years old she is well rounded, enjoys the outdoors, games, toys, puzzles, etc.  She still loves books, and spends about an hour a day reading to herself.  I still read to hear for about an hour every night before bed.

So, while it is important for them to be rounded, I think sometimes kids like to do mass practice until they feel confident with a skill before moving on.  I think you are doing the right thing, reading to your son while also trying to engage him in toys and other activities.  If you both feel happy reading all the time, then continue, happiness is a wonderful thing.

I think it is amazing your 1 year old son can read!  Enjoy!  The grow up so quickly.

[DadDude]

This is an excellent question for Dr. Gentry.  Look him up and ask him on his blog, Richard Gentry.

[Musiclovingmom]

When my youngest was little we jokingly called him 'The boy who LOVED books'..... after a little skit in a little video that he loved to watch.  At a year old he would sit in his car seat as I drove and 'read' Dr Suess's "Mr Brown can Moo, Can You?" or "The Cat in the Hat".  Of course, he was reciting from memory, but loved books so much that he would memorize them.  Fast forward 10 years and he is a straight A student in the Gifted and Talented programs in school as well as a member of the Duke University TIP program.  He is also a gifted athlete (thanks to Coach Dad) and musician (thanks to the Soft Mozart program).  So no, I wouldn't be concerned...but I would encourage your child to be well rounded.  Expose him to art, music and sports and encourage him to participate in all of them.  My granddaughter (child of my oldest son who is almost 30) will be spending most of the summer with me, so that's what I plan to be doing with her.  (And yes, we read several books every night to her too.) 
By the way, the 11 year old still loves books...he loves stories about heroic boys so has read all of the Harry Potter books, the Percy Jackson series (as well as the newer Kane Chronicles and The Lost Hero series), and the Eragon series.   He also loves comedy and eagerly reads each of the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books as they come out.    He also reads the National Geographic Kids and Sports Illustrated Kids magazines.  Reading will open your child to the world...rejoice that he loves it!

[Martusia]

Arvi,
When my boy was about the same age he was obsessed with books too. He was waking me up at 4 am and wanted me to read books. He was constantly sitting next to shelf with all his books and he was giving me one by one for reading. Many times I didn't finish a book and he was giving me another one. Then he was giving me the same one to read many times. I was constantly reading to him all day long. But he was doing some other activities too. Mostly montessori toddlers toys-he loved them a lot, because it was a challenge for him.

I was increasing amount of our books every week going to thrifts stores. I was looking at different books that included different words, pictures, different tenses. It was totally worth it. This stage changed and he stopped reading books for 2 months at about 18-19 months. He was interested in trucks, cars and mighty machines. Now Eaton is 28 months old and he reads books very regurally-about 10-13 average a day. But it also depends if we stay home or doing more activities outside. At this point he learns a lot from books and he loves them.

So I wouldn't worry about reading too much, also I wouldn't worry about the stage that baby doesn't touch books at all. Once you started stimulate baby's brain he/she will ask for more now or later.

You are on a way to raise a kid who will love reading books, so enjoy that stage ;-)

xoxo
marta

[arvi]

Thank you all for your suggestions.

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