Every parent wants his/her child to excel in academics but surprisingly not many work towards developing their interest in reading from an early age. Lot many moms complaint that their child is not at all fond of reading. Some even say that there is so much for the child to study that poor soul gets no time to read storybooks. But, the fact is that children who read better, perform better academically as well.
Though I have been working extensively at developing a love for reading among children, but when it came to my own son,the battle was tougher comparatively. As here the bond was not that of a teacher and student, but that of a mom and a child (and moms are usually taken for granted). But these Summer break I was determined to make him read lot many new books. A week has gone by, and he has already finished over ten stories.
Here I would share a few secrets that can work wonders in developing child’s interest in reading from an early age.
- Storytelling – In the beginning my Son was not too fond of reading all by himself.
Story Time I used to re-read the same story to him every day. After doing it 3-4 times,when he was familiar with the story as well as the words, I then gave the book to him to read. In one or two attempts he could proudly finish the book all by himself moving on to the next book.
- Audio Story– For children who hate to even look at books, audio stories is a great tool. We can record a story from a book ourselves or get it done by a storyteller and make them listen to it again and again before giving them the actual book. This excites them to see the pictures as well as read and comprehend better since they already know the words in the story.
- Puppet Show– Children who are very creative, for them story puppets and theater can also be created.
Puppet Theater created by us. Narrate the story to them using a theater and once they are familiar with the characters and the setup then they would enjoy reading the same story. Watch Puppet Show video presented by him.
- Developing a reading program– We can create our own reading program to suit our child’s needs and interest. Since my Son is crazy about Space, So I developed a space theme reading program. Every time he would finish a book, I would draw a planet to his solar system. this way we would keep adding more things to complete his space picture.
But what is most important, is our time commitment towards making a child read. Reading requires dedicated time slot. We can not squeeze it in between classes or tasks. It has to be given due importance. But it is surely worth all the efforts.
Parenting by Dr Shweta 