Nurturing
the Love for Reading
Mummy’s
goal: Nurture my child to love reading books.
Reading is one of the most important habits that
you must help your child form. If your child loves to read, more than half the
battle is won as he will naturally be able to gain knowledge through books. Remember, the main aim is to cultivate the love for learning. Onc ethe love for learning is instilled in the child, you have sowed the seeds for success. The child will grow to become confident self-directed learner - a very important 21st century competence skills.
Question: So how to nurture the love for
reading?
Answer: Start reading to your child as
soon as you can.
Even if your baby is just a few days old,
you can start reading to him. He may not understand what you are reading. But
he is listening to your voice and your tone. Keep reading until your baby has
gained more control of his hand, then you can get him some "touch and feel" books
to attract him.
 |
| Touch and feel books |
When your child is older (age 1), you can
get some board books so that the books can withstand rough handling. If your
child is more interested in flipping the pages and looking at the pictures,
allow him to do so. Usually children are excited over new things and want to
explore on their own. Therefore, he may not be interested in you reading to him
yet. Give him time to get over his excitement and then ask “Do you want me to
read to you?”. Sometimes, it takes up to a few days for the child to get over
the initial excitement. Remember, your main aim here is to get your child
interested in books.
Picking
the right book:
Bring your child to choose the books he
wants to read. Remember, do not choose the book that only you are interested
in. After all, the books your child chooses will keep him interested and the
book you chose, may not suit his interest. However, after awhile, you will know
what type of books your children like. But remember, encourage him to explore
other types (fiction/non fiction) and genres of books.
As your child gets older, help him to
pick the appropriate difficulty of books.
How do you know if it is the right level
of book for him?
It is very easy for parents nowadays as
some publishers have already helped you to sort out the books. They come in
“pre-reading grade”, “level 1 reading”, “level 2 reading”.
When your child is age 6 onwards, you can
start introducing authors such as Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton to them.
One guideline on how
to choose the right level of book is to ask your child to simply flip to the
first page, read the page and if there are about 2-3 difficult words that your
child does not know, then this book is of the right level. But if there are
more than 5 words that your child does not know, then get him to pick another
book.
Place
the books strategically:
If you want your child to read books, you
need to put them within the reach of your child. Have a book shelf and place
the books at your child’s eye level. In this case, you don’t even have to bring
the books to him. Your child will eventually explore the book shelf.
What
if my child does not like to read and is not interested in books?
This strategy is shared by another mummy.
What she did was that she placed books all over the house. A few on the sofa,
on the table, in the toilet even. The books were all over the place that it was
certain that eventually when the child is bored, he will pick up one of it to
read. And it happened- one day, the child simply picked up one of the books
when he was doing his “big business” in the toilet and from there on, he
started reading. To avoid your child not liking books, start reading to your
child at a young age.
Tips:
1)
Set
aside reading time everyday. For me, I use reading time as a winding down
activity for the day. My children will all go to the home half an hour before
bedtime and my husband and I will take turns to read to them. Allow the
children to make themselves comfortable. It’s fine reading on the bed.
2)
Make
your children feel that reading is fun. Just one gentle reminder, do not stress
your child to read the books to you. Some children will start to not like
reading time because they will feel stressed about not being about to read, or
read properly. Eventually, they will learn to read on their own. My daughter at age 6 can do her own silent reading.
3)
To
make reading every more interesting, I strongly believe in Literature Based
Learning. It means to do different activities based on the book. I
will be sharing more on this very soon.
