How to get a 2 year old to sit and listen to a book?

Firstly he shouldn't be seeing ANY TV at this age. No chid under the age of three should have any 'screen time' at all (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18149510 for more info). If he's seeing TV most days that may be responsible for his language delay - TV does no good at all and is often responsible for children struggling to speak.

Lots of boys do need to spend a lot of time running around, playing with a ball outside, climbing, and so on, so it's important that your nephew has the opportunity to do this for a couple of hours every day. He probably also needs to play with building toys - bricks, Duplo, and so on - but he should be able to look at books too. Reading a whole book may not be possible, but if you find a book with pictures that attract him, it should be possible to talk about them together, and turn the pages, and discuss the story - perhaps he can point to things on the pages. Reading books is an important way of helping children develop language skills. Don't even think of them as 'teaching' him at this stage... just developing an interest in books and seeing that they're fun.

I can't believe "something" is a child development specialist! He sounds perfectly normal to me. A lot of boys (and some girls) are like this- they need to be active most of the time. It's quite unreasonable to expect most 2 year olds to sit and listen to you read a book- experts don't recommend doing that. What does work is to keep them active for a while, playing outside, or in a park, or swimming or something, and then, when they're tired, they will sometimes sit with you for a few minutes while you point at pictures in a book. But they are certainly not going to follow the thread of a story.

I was at a party yesterday with several children between the ages of 1 and 3. A couple of the girls sat quietly on the steps of a swimming pool playing with toys, and sat and ate their dinner nicely. The boys mostly ran around, played with trucks, squirted each other in the pool, ate a little and then ran around again. There are, of course, individual differences, but more boys than girls are experiential learners and really need to be actively exploring their environment.

I don't think a little tv hurts, but you really need to get your nephew to places where he can be active. He doesn't need to sit still and listen at this age.

You have a couple options. You could time the amount of time he watches T.V. Letting him watch it for a long time isn't healthy especially at his age. Try to find out what he likes and match things with that. He will soon start to accept hese new things. You can find out what movies he likes and turn on something that relates to the show he watches. If he likes to run around and play then go to the park and play with him. Its definitely better than watching T.V. all day. Plus he can get some vitamin D from the sun. while hes ready to sleep, he will be tired so he wont be complaining about the book. So have him next to you ont he couch or sofa and read him the book. Although he will only listen for like 5-8 minutes, its a good start. Then try to find a good and interesting book that he might find entertaining. Good luck!

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Try some video story books he can watch on tv as you say he likes to watch things on tv. Then as he gets used to video stories, maybe he'll like being read to. Tho each child is very different and he's a boy not your female daughter.

Please, no TV. Put him on your lap, open the story book and point at the pictures while reading. If he doesn't show any interest, try to sit on the carpet with him and build with wooden or plastic (Lego) blocks and allow him to destroy everything. Some boys at that age also like to dismantle old alarm clocks or anything mechanical but he has to be supervised continuously just to make sure that he doesn't swallow any tiny parts. Good luck.

I am laughing

As a child development specialist this tells me you worked with your child she used language, sat to listen to a book and use

Used her time differently than running through the house

His parents simply haven't worked with him and worse yet they do not expect more from him.

Some parents think young children just gain skills, like listening, sitting fora book, but you have to work on those things

I would not watch him, he is terrible and not good for your daughter to see his behavior and you need to use that time for your daughter which would be time well spent

Oh you can not change it for him, like get him to learn to sit and listen to a book, even enjoy a book by turning pages because he goes home.....and his parents are not on task with him.

Relax

3cheers for you and being on task with your child.

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