Father Blogger

We all know that reading can help our child to increase his knowledge about different things. If he will be fond of reading, he will get used to it and practice this habit until he grows up. Reading books can also keep him away from bad influences of the real world. However, it can also be boring especially if he sees other children not doing it and enjoying the playground. So here are some useful tips on how to do it.

Have a collection of good books

It is common sense that we should have good books at home. Although we can now get a lot of information on line, books are still more fun to read and can be available any time. But sometimes, we get contented in story books, encyclopedia and dictionary. We forget that there are some other books where our child can learn from. This includes World Atlas, Almanac and other reference books.

Start as early as possible

It is also better if we start collecting them early so he can be familiar with them during his growing years. When he starts recognizing them, you can find it easy to offer them. Let your child scatter them on the floor so he can easily open them and choose the pages he wants to view. He may not even be reading them but letting him copy them in a piece in a paper can help to be familiar with them.

Make it enjoyable

Books with a lot of pictures will attract their attention. Fairy tales and fables are good to start with. Not to mention nursery rhymes and children poems. He will be curious to know more about he sees and start asking questions. Be prepared to find easy words in the book and read them together. You can also use his fingers to point the words and be patient to read them slowly, syllable by syllable.

Assist him religiously

When our child starts to read words by syllables, they read them even if they do not know what they are reading. It is a pity that some parents ignore their child instead of assisting them with the right pronunciation. This usually happens when they are traveling or in a hurry. By spending a bit of your time to stop so that he can program the words into his mind will be a very big help. Furthermore, you can assist them through playing with words. However, never practice baby talk and read how they are really being pronounced.

Coach him continuously

Helping him is different from teaching him. Do not rely on teachers to teach your child how to read properly. It is not enough that you stop teaching him when he starts to go to school. In fact, this is the right time to coach him because he has now many reading materials and we may find some confusing words. Moreover, let him read a book all over again that he really he likes. In this way, he can easily recognize the words if he sees them again in another book. Practice makes perfect.

Reading can be fun and learning at the same time, no matter how young you are.

Article Source: Happy Family Matters

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[i][b]Children are angels in disguise!

mom2many

I think one thing that has to be rememebred is that some kids will never enjoy reading, I find this to be true more with my boys then my girls, especially as they get older. Still a 1/2 hour everynight is dedicated to reading, it doesn't have to be a book, it can be a magazine, comic anything so long as there are words on the page.

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Jennifer, mom to some wonderful kids!

TAR

my children love reading and getting new books, we take a weekly trip to the library, on top of we have 2 books shelfs full of books, and I have read to them everynight (and alot during the day) since they were newborns. We also do activities on books we read (like make a drawing of your favorite caracter stuff like that). Now they may not enjoy reading all the way untill adulthood but it's important for children. When they are little they may not sit all the way through a book, and that's ok i just continue to read it while they walk around and I say "oh did you see this doggy I just read about look how cute he has his bone" and the little ones usually will come and look and may sit for the next page.

Father Blogger

Motivation is the key to success, and we as parents should be very good at it.

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[i][b]Children are angels in disguise!

Trina

Good advice, but that article forgot to mention another important aspect. When kids witness their parents reading often, it tends to rub off.

Father Blogger

Thanks for following this thread. And yes, reading can be a turn-off for some children. That is why I mentioned that we should "make it enjoyable".

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[i][b]Children are angels in disguise!

Trina

Making reading enjoyable for kids and kids witnessing their parents reading a lot are two different things. If kids see their parents reading on their own, for work or for pleasure, on a regular basis it sends the message that reading is GOOD. This is different than parents reading with their kids and/or making it fun for them. Both encourage kids to enjoy reading.

My kids are both good readers. We have tons of books. DH and I began reading to them during infancy on a daily basis. This progressed to reading together and then having the kids read to us. Now that they're older they prefer to read chapter books silently. We often read our own books silently while lounging beside each other.

BookWyrm

This seems a good topic to start with, so, being my first official post (aside form my introduction) bear with me if I tend to ramble some

Alot of good points made so far. Being a devoted bookwyrm myself, I could not imagine my life without being surrounded by books, but can understand that it is not for everyone. Yet, it is vitally important that our children at least have a very good ability to read, even if they never subscribe to reading for pleasure.

I am not one who has ever felt a specific reading time or amount of time spent reading a day was the right choice for us. I know it works for some, but I also know too many adults who have abandoned reading because they felt it became a required chore in childhood.

I think it is more important that children be given a fully open door into reading, whether it be books, or comics or whatever format by tapping into what they are truly interested in. As a baby and toddler, my son wasn't always keen to sit still for a book. I would read to him when he was in the mood, but once the mood waned, I put the book away. I instituted verbal story-telling, and as he got older he bacame more interested in taking part himself. This has led to many enjoyable hours of creating stories for him, or having him tell me a story, and more, to making up stores together, each taking turn with the tale while we were taking a walk or just hanging out in the house or backyard.

One specific thing which worked for me in engaging his interest to read involved a bit of trickery. He was in first grade and solidly able to read but still mostly choosing things like Dr. Seuss and such. He was suppose ot bring a book of his own to school to read and could not decide what he wanted. He has always had an interest in scary stories and I had a small collection of short stories by Edgar Allen Poe. It did not have pictures and he did not think it would be interesting at all. So I told him, let's just try it. I'll read some and if you don't like it, no problem. I started reading The Black Cat... he became engrossed... and when it reached a really good part... I stopped.
He was hooked and wanted to know what happened next... and evil mom that I am, I told him I was getting tired, but if he wanted to know what happened next, he was more than welcome to continue reading it himself.

He did. And finished the whole in a week. And then he found the Goosebump books in the library. lol.

My son has gone back and forth in his desire to read for his own enjoyment or enlightenment. I was much the same as a child, with my own love of reading not truly kicking in until i was about 11 years old. He has an advanced ability to read, and spell and all of the associated academic necessities, and so I do not worry.

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Father Blogger

You are not an evil mom, BookWyrm. In fact, I can call you an smart mom. You see, foundation is very important for children as we will find it hard to motivate them when they're grown ups.

Good work!

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[i][b]Children are angels in disguise!

Karie Stelesco

I totally agree with Trina. Read to your kids, Read to your kids, Read to your kids. I believe all kids can like to read, but being inspired and motivated by others is the key to stirring an interest in those kids who haven't been bit by the reading bug. My son would rather here me tell him a story (when he was little) than read on his own. He just wasn't interested.

Then, I started reading to him more and more. Since he was interested in my life's stories, I came to an understanding that he was into hearing words that shared real experiences. He also had a passion for dogs. So I read to him stories about real people and dogs. I then bought him his own books, fiction and non-fiction, about dogs. Do you see where I'm going with this?

I am also a teacher, and have been for many years. When I started paying attention to my student's interests, read them books that they were interested in, and let them read what they cared about, it worked. They started to love reading too!

Karie Stelesco invites you to read “Free Report: 16 Ways To Motivate Your Child To Do Better in School…"
http://www.tutorfi.com/parents/