Reading is a hugely important skill that can lead to pretty much everything else - if you can read, you’ll be able to learn about anything and everything, and your future will be wide open.
As parents, one of the best things we can do for our kids is to ensure they’re good readers who don’t just have the skill to do it, but who enjoy it as well - reading for pleasure is just as important as reading for education and knowledge. With that in mind, here are some things you can do that will help your child become a better reader and allow them to do
whatever it is they want in life.
Start Early
If you want your child to be a good reader who enjoys the process, it’s best to start as early as possible - even before they really understand language, in fact. Before your little one
begins to talk, reading aloud to them is certainly something to do as often as possible - ideally every day. It might sound like a strange thing to do if they can’t understand, but reading aloud helps them learn about the sound of language, the rhythm of words, and even storytelling in general. If you can make reading part of your daily routine from when your child is very young, it won’t seem like a strange thing to do and will easily become a positive habit they fall into.
Make Your House Book Friendly
If you want your child to read, you’ll need to ensure your house is as book-friendly as possible, so have plenty of reading material around for the little ones to delve into - age-appropriate, of course! You can have a dedicated reading corner in your home that’s chock-full of lovely books, magazines, and anything else that could be good practice for your child, including scriptures for kids, for example, and to top things up, you can make regular trips to the library to explore new titles and let your child choose their own books because that will make them a
lot more interesting and they’ll be able to find their own interests that way.
Lead By Example
Children are always going to copy what their parents and guardians do, which is why it’s so important to remember that fact and behave in a way you’d want your kids to. When it comes to reading, that’s no different, and letting your child see you reading for pleasure is a great idea. It could be a novel, an eBook, a magazine, a newspaper, or anything else because it’s the act of reading that’s important, not necessarily what you’re reading. If you can show you love to read and you choose to do it rather than watch TV or go online, that’s going to be something your child picks up on, and
hopefully emulates.
Make Reading Fun
As well as ensuring your child sees you reading, you’ll want to make sure they see you enjoying it, which is why it’s important to make reading as fun as possible - it shouldn’t ever be seen as a chore. There are various ways you can go about this, but one that can often work is encouraging discussions about the book so they can get more in-depth into the story and characters - the more invested they are, the more fun it will be.
0 comments