I love chatting to customers when they phone to order a bookcase because I get to hear who they’re buying for and how old the children are. It’s great to know that Tidy Books will be part of their kids’ book, and baby book journey from an early age – and for some families, that journey starts sooner than you might think.
Sometimes when I ask a customer how old the child they’re buying for is they tell me ‘Well, they’re not actually born yet.’ It might be a parent who wants a bookcase ready and waiting in the nursery for when their baby arrives. Or someone buying a present for a colleague going on maternity leave. And we get lots of grandparents who want to give the gift of reading to their new grandchildren, particularly at Christmas.
It doesn’t surprise me that our bookcase is popular for babies. Who wouldn’t want their little ones to grow up with books around them?
Raising an independent reader with baby books and a Tidy Books bookcase
From the moment your baby is born, they can start enjoying baby books – and they’ll be fascinated by bright, eye-catching colours and nursery rhymes. Before you know it, between four to six months, they’ll be able to grab a book and try to hold onto it. And from the age of six months there’ll be no stopping them. At this stage, they’ll start to make their Tidy Books bookcase their own, reaching up to choose a book from the first shelf. If you need ideas on what books to put in the case, we asked Kim, mum and blogger at Book Bairn and The Wee Page Turner, to recommend her top ten baby books. You can find the list here
Raising an independent reader from the first years. Image credit @theearlyyears_
I don’t think you need to do anything else to actively encourage children to read. Babies are naturally attracted to books and if you make books part of their environment they’ll be drawn to them on their own. Of course you can contribute to their reading experience by giving them plenty of books to choose from – our sturdy bookcase fits up to 85 books – both baby books and kids books – and fixes securely to the wall so it won’t topple over.
The way the bookcase has been designed, with front-facing shelves, creates independent readers from an early age. Kids can clearly see the cover of their books, which means they can easily help themselves to the book they want to read – rather than pulling all the books out into an untidy pile or waiting for an adult to find it for them. And as our bookcase is built to last, your baby – and their siblings after them – will grow up with years of reading enjoyment ahead of them.
