Ben and I were both English majors in college. At our graduation ceremony from the College of Humanities, one of the speakers gave a statistic about how 90-something percent of college graduates never pick up another book in their entire lives after they leave school. There was a sort of horrified rustling as the graduates, all of whom were book nerds in one way or another, shifted uncomfortably in their seats. I thought, really? That many people don’t read? How can you exist without reading a single book for that long?

And then I became a mom.

All of a sudden, life was so much more hectic than I’d ever imagined it could be. I didn’t have time to sit down and read print books the way I had preferred to read for most of my life; for a while, I didn’t even have time to browse the library or Goodreads the way I had before having a kid. And while I loved reading with Geekling and taking him to the library to get new books for himself, I still had plenty of books I wanted to read myself—but often felt like I had no time to get to them.

After I left my job to mom full-time, I realized that, while I was happy spending all my time raising my baby, I still craved the mental exercise and escape I used to get from reading. But things were different now. I couldn’t exactly park myself in my butterfly chair with a stack of books and a bag of Skittles and read for hours the way I had when I was twelve. 

With time and creativity, I was able to figure out ways to read more. Today, I’m going to share some of the things that have worked for me, in hopes that they will help another busy mom (who loves her job but wants to read more) find time to get that literary escape.

1. Naptime (or Quiet Time)

Obviously, the sweet midday break that is naptime is a great time to read. At first, I tried to get stuff done during Geekling’s naps. I was super productive, but often felt burnt out and cranky when he woke up. I realized that if I was going to be a patient mom both before and after naptime, something needed to change. 

Naptime became my breaktime. Sometimes that means it’s my naptime, too. But other times that means it’s my video game time, YouTube time, or, most importantly, my reading time. It’s not always easy to sit down and open a print book with a toddler constantly moving at a fast clip throughout the day. But when I’m in the mood to read during the stillness of naptime, I don’t let myself feel guilty about leaving a pile of lunch dishes in the sink and sitting on the couch with my current read.

Even if your kids don’t nap anymore, there’s still quiet time. When I was growing up, the post-lunch hour was quiet time for everyone regardless of whether you took naps or not, and that expectation continued even through my teenage years when we were all home during summer vacation. It was some much-needed unwinding time for all of us, and I’m sure it was some much-needed alone time for my mom. I don’t know everything she did during quiet time, but she certainly read sometimes. This is something I plan to incorporate even after my kids stop napping.

2. Audiobooks

This is a big one for me. I used to be one of those silly people who thought (wrongly) that “audiobooks are cheating” and “audiobooks aren’t real reading.” It wasn’t anything against the audiobooks themselves; I didn’t and still don’t like ebooks either. I’ve just always preferred the weight, smell, and experience of reading print books.

Ben introduced me to audiobooks when we were dating. Admittedly, it started as a way to breeze through Ulysses at 4x speed for our modernist literature class. (Yes, English majors do this even though they love reading. If you had a combined thousand+ pages of assigned reading every night from all your different classes, you would too.) 

But when we got married, Ben wanted to continue in our family a tradition that he’d had in his family since he was little: listening to audiobooks on road trips. I was worried I’d be distracted from the road if I got too into a book, but to my surprise it was a great way to stay awake and engaged while I was driving, and a great way to keep from being bored in the car when I was the passenger. 

I didn’t really get into listening to audiobooks outside of road trips, though, until Geekling was born. He did a lot more snuggling and sleeping in those days than he does now, but I was busy and often had my hands too full to sit down and crack open a book. When I discovered how easy it was to check out an audiobook from one of my library apps and listen while I folded laundry or did dishes or any other mindless household chore, I suddenly had lots of time to read again. It eased the boredom I had always felt while doing many of those tasks and made them enjoyable for me, so that now, I often look forward to doing dishes if I’m in the middle of an audiobook I like.

I think I will still always prefer to read in print, but being open to audiobooks has let me continue reading even when I’m too busy to sit down and read a print book. And it’s let me rediscover lots of old favorites that are wonderful to experience anew through the acting of an audiobook narrator. 

3. While Kids are Occupied

This one obviously depends on the situation and what the kids are occupied doing, but sometimes I sneak in some reading while Geekling is awake. When he was a baby, I didn’t want to scroll through my phone while he nursed, but I could only gaze at him adoringly for so long before I sometimes got a little bored. (It’s okay, it happens!) Holding and reading a print book while he ate, or listening to an audiobook, let me alleviate that boredom without turning to scrolling on my phone, which would often become a distracting wormhole without my realizing it.

It’s good for kids to see their parents reading and enjoying it. It sparks a desire for them to read as well. If Geekling is absorbed building a LEGO house or otherwise playing on his own, I’ll sit in the same room with him and read something of my own. I don’t get very far when reading this way, but it is still reading time, and me reading a print book is much better for Geekling to see than me scrolling through my phone. 

I really do think it’s important for me to keep reading on my own, both for my kids’ benefit and for my own, to get that mental stimulation that I need but don’t always get through other means. And reading widely is a great way to connect with my kids as they grow and learn to read on their own—something I’m so excited to watch them do. 

Are you a full-time parent to little kids? What are some tricks you’ve figured out to get some reading time for yourself?

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Feature image by Liana Mikah on Unsplash.