As it is said by famous Harvard College Professor and experimental psychologist, Steven Pinker- “Babies are born with the instinct to speak; the way spiders are born with the instinct to spin webs. You don’t need to train babies to speak; they just do. But reading is different.” Very True! Reading Ability at an early age is a precious gift given to kids by their parents which can change their world forever. Through books, we get knowledge and knowledge is power.
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Books always help us in enriching our mind and enjoying life fully. Swiss psychologist, Jean Piaget, who was known for his Cognitive Development theories, says that a little child knows more than he can verbalize. And in his Cognitive Development studies, Piaget discovered that by the age of one and half years old, a child develops what he refers to as mental representation which is “the ability to hold an image in their mind for a period beyond the immediate experience.” During this phase, especially between the ages of one and three, kids make big leaps in vocabulary, letters, shapes, and colors. Reading to toddlers at this age is imperative. When a toddler hears a new word, he may not understand it but he may absorb some meaning from the context which will deepen his understanding of the word the next time it’s used. Parents should focus on active reading with their kids. There are various stories in books which provide great lessons to kids like proper behavior and thus help in building their character. If we help our kids in becoming a good reader then it will help them in long run. First five years are critical in any kid’s life and in that period the active reading atmosphere which we provide him in the home is going to help them to be a better reader. There are certain ways through which parents can make reading a fun activity for kids- Read them aloud-Kids will always enjoy listening to their parents. This reading time will be quality bonding time with their kids while they are looking into parent’s eyes when listening to stories and it will also help kids developing listening skills. Once they start enjoying story time with parents then learning to read will be as easy to them as of how walking and talking is. Use the cover-up: For many kids, the words on the page run and blur together, to overcome this problem parents can use a three by five index card to cover everything except the sentence that your child is reading. When they finish a line, they move the card down and repeat the process Add emotions to your reading- Enjoyment is must in the process of reading, it helps a lot when we make an effort to create a spirit of joy and fun, adventure, and wonder, while we read with our children If as a parent we involve our self in our kid’s reading process then our kids can grow into adults who love reading and also respect the value of printed words. As our kids will be growing up to teenage then it will be difficult to inculcate reading interest in them so don’t let the time go from your hand and have fun in story time reading sessions. As per saying by Charles W. Eliot- “Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers. ~” Let’s strive to make our kids a better reader for their better future.
Charu Mehrotra
Promoting Excellence in Women!
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