Punishment From Reading??

My little Ashley loves to read. It is her passion. She learned to read in pre-k, and came out of kindergarten on a 4th grade level. In first grade they had to do a pull out reading group for her because none of the other kids in her class could even come close to her level for her to associate with. She reads anything. She reads books, encyclopedias, kid magazines, adult magazines, my mail, the phone book...If it has words, she will read. Her favorite section at the library is the children's nonfiction. She even read my breastfeeding book while I was pregnant last year. For the first month after the new baby came, she continued to correct me on my latching on, positioning and length of feedings!

One year for Christmas, I think first grade, her Christmas list consisted of this:

• a bookshelf
• a big box of chapter books
• a lamp for her nightstand so she could read in bed
• a hello kitty toaster

Needless to say she got everything on her list. I raided the salvation army and goodwill stores, along with ebay for whatever I could find, and I raked it in! We got everything from Sweet Valley Twins to Babysitters Club and Sleepover Friends and The Gymnasts and Goosebumps. Santa couldn't fit all the books in one box, so she got like three boxes--over 150 books. She was in heaven, and I do believe she's read them all, many multiple times.

One big, huge frustration with this girl is that she really cares about nothing but her books. So when it comes time to ground her, am I really supposed to take away her books? You know the whole "everyone has their currency" thing. We have tried taking away tv, outside time, dance class, friend time, stereo, everything. So once we actually packed up all her books and parked them in the garage. Guess what she did. She simply went to the school library and came home with new and more interesting ones. Geez, Louise.

It was totally ineffective, and believe me when I say she will read anything. She loves to pull out the phone book and read the yellow pages. I've actually caught her reading the white pages before, and telling me, Mom, did you know that someone named...lives in Fort Smith? Now, I love to read also, but pul-ease!!

Maybe we've encouraged it too much, or maybe we just have a female Einstein on our hands. Who knows, but she is really driving me nuts with it! For instance, she will read at any time and in any place, with any lighting. She had a dollhouse with a toybox that had a tiny tiny little light inside of it. I caught her reading by this once. She had a bear that you color on with a little light thingy...yep, reading after bedtime again. She's opened her blinds to read by the light of the gas lamppost in the neighbor's yard across the street! So basically, we have to watch her like a hawk! Here's what I caught her reading by tonight:


Yep, a Christmas tree headband. You push the side of it and it has little colored lights that flash around. So I now have a new headband. I look fabulous in it.

And the lamp she got for Christmas that year--still sits in her room. Bulb-less.