After being away with work so often recently, I have become first choice among our children for bedtime stories. I’m not sure how long this favoritism will last, but while it exists I get to choose the adventures we embark on at bedtime.
Following dinner this evening I remembered the arrival of the trailer for a rather significant movie on the internet earlier in the day, and showed it to the girls. They quietly sat and watched from start to finish - which would normally be rare, but given the approaching announcement of bedtime they were no doubt adopting the age old practice of “taking an uncommon interest in anything at all to divert Mum and Dad from the fact that it’s our bedtime”.
The inevitable announcement was finally made, and I started scouting around for a good book to read. The movie trailer made the choice easy. After hunting around on the bookshelves in the living room I found the book I was looking for; bound in green, embossed on brown leather with gold lettering, nestling against the statue of an Argonath. I slid it from the bookshelf, blew the dust from it, and wandered back to the girls.
“This… is ‘The Hobbit’, and you’re going to like it. A lot.”
I have never known a bedtime story listened to so avidly by our children. Perhaps we’ve hit the perfect ages for The Hobbit - our girls are six, seven and eleven.
Miss Eleven sat quietly on the bedroom floor with me, and the younger girls peeked out from the bedclothes as I read about Old Took, Beladonna Took, and the arrival of Gandalf at Biblo’s door for the first time.
After only a few pages Miss Six’s breathing slowed. By the time the dwarves had begun eating Bilbo out of house and home all the children were asleep.
I tiptoed from the room, tucking the bound piece of ribbon into the pages, and clasped the book to my chest as I quietly made my way down the stairs.
One of the huge privilages of being a parent is not only having the opportunity to share in new experiences with your children, but also sharing your favourite experiences with them - and seeing your excitement re-lived through their eyes.
I can’t wait for tomorrow night.