Reading is the most important skill a child will ever learn. By
developing an interest in reading, and thereby developing the
desire to learn to read, you will be giving your child the gift
to all knowledge. A child who loves to read and reads well can
learn ANYTHING!
The interest in reading is developed at a young age. Make time
to read bedtime stores. Make time at other time of the day, if
possible, to sit and read to your child. Simple, easy to
understand children's books with colorful pictures as best
for the youngest children.
Not only can you point to the words you are reading as you read,
but you can help the child learn recognition of objects and
colors by interacting during the reading of the book. Point to
the picture of a duck and tell the child, "This is a duck. The
duck is yellow". After a few times of doing this, point to the
duck and ask the child what that picture is and what color the
animal is. Every soon, after grasping language skills, the child
will not wait for questions, but tell you "that duck is yellow!"
Select books that teach a lesson about life. Books that teach
children how to interact with other children without fighting;
books that teach about giving or sharing, are good selections.
Books that teach about responsibilities - how to cross the
street, never to get in a stranger's car, never to steal, and
so one - are also great choices.
Children's classics are excellent choices and may well become
family heirlooms that you child will read to their child years
down the road. You will soon develop a child that can't wait to
learn to read.
I'd like to share a small personal antidote with you. I was
raised as a child who was taught an interest in reading. When
Mother cooked, she sometimes got out a book and it told her what
to do to make good food. When Dad wanted to know when the
Christmas Parade or another event was going to occur, he read
the newspaper. I had realized that you could learn anything you
needed to know if you could read. Mother had taught me to read
a few words, and I could go through some of my favorite books
by memory, but I couldn't pick up a big book and read it.
I went to school on my first day of 1st grade and came home
crying my eyes out, telling Mother I wasn't going back to that
bad school. After much questioning and concern on Mom's part,
she finally dragged out of me that I considered the school bad
because I had not learned to read on the first day! She had to
explain to me that by the end of the school year, I would be
able to read.
This short story is to emphasis that you want to raise the kind
of child who truly can't wait to learn to read. A lifetime of
reading provides not only knowledge, but fun, relaxation, and
true job.
|
