Taking the time to sit down at least once a day and read to your child is possibly the best thing a parent can do to help the grow and develop properly. Reading is more than a way to get the kids to sleep or to keep them distracted fro a little while so you can get things done around the house. Reading aloud with your children on a regular basis helps them by doing the following things:
- Helps them experience spoken language, which is vastly different from silent reading
- Gives them a basis for outlines, development, progression and formation of a story.
- Helps prepare them for reading, writing, listening in school and real world situations
- Creates a special bond between involved parties and helps develop happy memories and motivation
- Turns little inquisitive minds into life-long readers and into life-long learners!
10 tips to help your child love reading
1. Read to your child at least once every day, even if for only 5 minutes. This helps instill the importance of reading and also gives you time to send one on one with your child. Children also enjoy the routine and will have something to look forward to each day.
2. Create a quite, cozy, special place that you can sneak away to so that you can read together. It can be a tent made out of an old sheet, a special chair, or just the pile of pillows thrown on the bed. What or where does not matter, just make it your special reading place.
3. Let your child choose the book for reading time. Children loved to be involve3d and when you let them choose the books it allows them to make choices and decide what they want to do each time. You can borrow books from the library, ask a friend to loan you a few, or start your own personal library at home!
4. Change your voice so each character has a different voice. No need to be a professional actor, in fact, silly sounding voices are often the best and are the ones kids will remember the most. So be silly, give each character their own unique voice, and even let your child read for one of the characters as you tell the story. Make sure you do not rush through the book too fast- kids can pick up on the fact that you want to get done and don’t want to spend time with them.
5. After you read the book there is no need to end the adventure and the learning opportunities there. When you finish the last page take the time to talk about the story with your child. Ask them questions about the story, characters, setting, and what happened. Go back through and find your favorite moments from the story and look at the pictures. Also make sure you take time to go over any hard words in the story and use it as a time to teach your child new vocabulary words. Try to make connections also to things going in with you, your child, and your family to help them further connect with the story.
Reading is without a doubt one of the best things you can do as a parent for your child. It is investing time and effort into their lives and teaching them valuable skills as well as a love for reading and writing that will serve them well into their adult life.
“Be on the Look-out for my next , Kid’s Zombie Adventure series , by Berry Wood.”
