Is it normal that my preschooler wants to hear the same book over and over?

Expert Answers

Elaine McEwan-Adkins, educational consultant

This "Read it again, Daddy" phase that preschoolers go through is perfectly normal. Children love the sense of power that comes from knowing what's on the printed page, and since they cannot read it for themselves, the next best thing is to memorize it. To do that they need to hear the story read over and over. Your preschooler decides for reasons known only to him which books are to be chewed and digested, and because he can't yet read for himself, you are delegated to read the them with diligence and attention. That means you can't skip a word of the text — and don't even think about turning several pages at once!

But the 200th reading of Green Eggs and Ham can make you a little crazy, particularly if you didn't care for the book the first time through. I always recommend choosing your favorites to read aloud. You never know when a book will zoom to the top of the charts and need to be read at least once or twice at every sitting. Read new titles aloud to your children daily, but always indulge their requests to reread old favorites.