Yesterday we went into London for a special exhibit which for us means about an hour commute – one train and then the underground (tube).  The whole way there my daughter read her book – well with a few breaks to keep me informed of the goings on.

And I kept noticing the stares and I do means stares that she got.  A number of people where really surprised to see her reading.  And then a few comments – One older lady commented to her friend that she never sees young girls reading on the train anymore, someone asked me about the book she was reading and someone even asked me how I get my daughter to read.  I answered back just saying she loves to read (which she does) but it struck me that it was about me getting my daughter to read not thinking that my daughter might actually want to read. Which is strange to think about because before we go into London I normally have to negotiate the number of books my daughter wants to take with us down to 2 (purely because I end up carrying the books around the museums).

After we climbed off the tube my daughter linked her arm through mine and said ” Mum you should have told that lady that I read on the train because that is what we have always done.”  I asked her to explain and she said ” Ever since we were little whenever we went on a train or the underground anywhere you always had books with us and you always read to us on the journeys, so it is just something that we do, going on a train trip means time to read”.  I found that interesting.  It may be the first time that my daughter has ever verbally acknowledge that one of her patterns of behaviour is a result of something that we started doing with them when they were little.