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When children love reading, they have a gift that will enrich their personal and professional lives for years to come. Even though teachers play an indispensable role, parents are a child’s first educators. Parents should begin to read to their children as soon as possible to nourish the love of books.
To help build literacy skills at every stage of development, consider the following tips.
How to Help Younger Children Love Reading
Start by reading to your baby. It’s never too soon to start. Studies show that even reading in utero can help develop a baby’s brain before they are even born. Until their attention spans grow, you can read to your baby for a few minutes at a time throughout the day. Change your tone of voice and point to the pictures to help them interested. Reciting nursery rhymes and singing songs helps develop communication skills.
Continue reading with your child as they grow. Reading to your child is such a valuable way to spend your time together. Make storytime a routine before bed or anytime that works with your daily schedule. You can read during bath time, or before naps.
Make reading fun and interactive. Train yourself to read animatedly. Encourage your child to read with you by reading some passages aloud to you or their siblings. Ask questions and share opinions about what you read together or make up your variations on the story.
Enlist your child’s teacher as an ally. Develop regular communication with your child’s teacher, asking for feedback. Teachers may detect areas of weakness in reading skills that you can correct before they become serious issues. They can also help suggest titles that your child might enjoy.
Visit local libraries and bookstores. Take your child on an excursion to the library for storytime and activities offered for children at library events or local bookstores. Start discussing a library card as a reward for being of age and celebrating the moment when they get their own.
Encourage writing. Creating opportunities for your child to write will help reinforce their literacy skills. Leaving each other notes on the refrigerator or writing emails is a great way to practice writing. Be creative. Invest in stationery to write letters to loved ones or create greeting cards together. Take turns writing poems or short stories.
Older Children And Reading
Make sure your child sees you reading. Be an example at home to show how reading is fun and enjoyable. Help your preteen develop their critical thinking skills by discussing books as part of everyday conversations. Invest in the genre they enjoy and try not to be critical of the books they choose. Force yourself to research the books they read so you can engage in conversation with them.
Help your teen find time to read. The average teen spends plenty of time on electronic media, social activities, and school functions. Setting sensible limits like night curfews on cell phone use or watching TV can help set boundaries that allow more time for reading in the home.
Create a home library. Make space for reading material and have it readily available in the home and easily accessible. Create an inviting and comfortable area to read. You don’t need to have an extra room; you can easily create a corner of the living room.
Seek out books that reflect your teen’s interests. Allow your teenager to pick their books out as long as the titles are age-appropriate. You have to stay up to date on popular movies turned into books, zombies, or any other new trends.
Integrate reading into family fun. If your teen is studying Hamlet in their English class, make reservations to watch a live production and buy them there own copy. If they like a film based on a Jane Austen novel, buy them the paperback. Take the time to read it yourself so you can discuss it with your teen and make it exciting.
Be realistic. Teen years are busy and challenging. Celebrate any progress you make without using so much pressure that your good intentions backfire.
Reading for pleasure expands the mind and enhances our shared cultural and civic life. You can help your children get off to a good start by learning to love reading. It will help build basic comprehension skills and change their lives for the better.
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