Regarding my 2 1/2 year old and reading?

My little man was the same way. He rarely sat through a whole book, it's because his attention span was so short.

He's 6 now, and reads entire books to ME. He loves Dr. Seuss the most.

I would recommend just being patient, keep doing what you're doing, read often, and he will grow to love his books as much as my little guy. You're doing fine, and he's totally normal.

I've been reading Goodnight Moon to my 21 month old since he was 6 months. I've also read 'How does a Dinosaur say Goodnight' since he was 14 months. I think the key is repitition. We read the same 2 books every night. We also read either a book of our choice or a book of his choice, depending on if he can choose just one, haha. He did go through a stage where all he wanted to do was point, smack, crinkle, etc. Since I'd read the book so many times, I had it memorized so I'd just close the book, and finsh the story. He got over it within a couple of months. I took him to the book store a few times, but every time, he would end up finding Goodnight Moon, and that's all he would care about. When he's not acting interested, we'll insert his name, his stuffed animal's name, or a favorite object or person in the book. Since he knows the story as well as we do, he knows its not supposed to be there and it usually gets his attention right away. We always read before bedtime, sometimes during lunch, and during bathtime. I don't do it when he's likely to get up and start running around. If I do, I get a crowd of toys and stuffed animals and read to them. He's welcome to join if he wants, but if he doesn't no big deal. I think 7 minutes is the max for me at one time, and Daddy can draw it out to 10 minutes somehow. Good luck!

I admire what you are trying to do. Your child is curious about many things that are both familiar and unfamiliar to him in the pictures that he sees in the books. What I try to do is, if we cannot make it trough a book, okay. That is fine. We talk about the actions of the characters in the pictures. Name unfamiliar items, places, ideas. We study the pictures that the child turns to.

There are going to be many times when they do not want to read the book, but they are interested in what they are seeing. So, keep up the great work and let your son be the "driver" and you navigate. You can guide him in a general direction and let him choose the specifics. In doing this you both win and he doesn't loose interest completely.

Keep trying and eventually as he gets older he will sit longer, my five year old couldn't sit through a story until she was almost four, where as my 3 year old would sit from the time she was one. Also make sure you are reading books that are age appropriate, I suggest brown bear brown bear, and the other Eric carle bear stories, as well as the book "Head to Toe" other favorites of that age are "No, David!" and "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus"

most kids are like this. just letting him point out the colors and different objects is good. if he gets in the habit of sitting down with a book now he'll continue to do it later. then he can enjoy the story a little more. my little ones enjoyed the touch and feel books with different textures and patterns on the pages.

I have a 2 yr. old too, and he loves books, but only has the attention span to handle very short books. His favorites are short books (usually cardboard) like "Go Dog Go!", "Look Up In The Sky" "Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?" by Dr. Seuss. I'd try shorter books, that may be all he needs to keep his interest in reading.

A lot of 2 year olds just want to get up and run around. With my son I only read to him when he is tired. I know it doesn't work for you. Don't worry he'll be interested in books later on. He is just a 2 year old that wants to explore and play with toys. It's hard to keep them still.

Everyone learns differently, Many 2.5 year old kids don't want to listen to a story, they just want to look at pictures. Don't worry, just keep letting your child explore books however he likes, don't get mad or frustrated with him or he may stop enjoying reading at all.