My daughter is ten. I can feel time creeping up on（开始影响） us. And recently it's been hitting me in an unexpected location—bedtime reading.
From the earliest days of my daughter's life, I would read to her when it was time to go to sleep. It was our nightly tradition and we loved it. I got great parental satisfaction from how well my kid spoke at a young age.
But she's getting older. And our bedtime reading tradition is starting to show signs of that age. Her books are getting more complex（复杂的）. In the old days, we'd read a few picture books before bed. But her literary （文学的） tastes have developed so greatly now. She spent months reading the Harry Potter series, and once done, she was eager for more. She wanted bigger, longer, more meaningful books. If we read one of these books together at bedtime, it can take weeks or months for us to get through it.
Besides, she's getting bigger. In the old days, it was fine that I took up 90% of her twin bed, but now she needs more room and we struggle to both fit onto the bed, which makes our bedtime reading even more uncomfortable.
I am not willing to give up on bedtime reading yet, and neither is my daughter. I once tried to bring up the subject of not reading any more and she squashed it at once. I could tell she was also worried that our reading tradition might come to an end.
However, I don't think I need to worry about my daughter not reading any more. It's part of her DNA. I'll let her read her books by herself and I'll read mine by myself and I will force us to exchange opinions on them over breakfast the next morning. If I'm going to lose our old reading tradition, I will start another. Some things are worth fighting for, and reading is one of them.
