Raising a Reader

I love books.. Granted with 4 boys I read more Dr. Suess than anyone else.   But here is a great Guest Post by Kathleen Thomas on some tips for raising a reader.


Raising a Reader Early Literacy: the Foundation for Learning and Life
Article submitted by Kathleen Thomas on behalf of Primrose Educational Preschools

Reading doesn’t come naturally to every child. While children do enter life wanting to learn how language works, the reading aspect is something that they must be exposed to over and over again. How you read to your child could have a significant impact on how your child develops in school. The early readers are always those that have been exposed to books more often.

You can start reading to your children at a very early age. While they won’t be able to understand the words yet, they will eventually begin to connect the pictures with the words and start to make the connections. Plus, the intonation of your voice as you read a story can be very soothing to them and they will begin to associate reading with a calming effect that could continue on for the rest of their life.

How children interact with books is usually an indicator of how a child will do in school. A love of reading will translate to students doing better in school throughout all subjects as well as feel more inclined to read aloud in a classroom.

Creating the Atmosphere

There are many ways to create an atmosphere so that your child harbors a love for books. Surround your child with books so that he or she has books around them at all times that they can grab and have you read to them.

Ways to do this includes:

- Purchase new or used books and place them in the nursery
- Make a ‘field trip’ each week to go to the library and pick out new books
- Read around your child – even if it’s your books

The more a child sees you reading, the more a child will be inclined to want to be able to partake.

The first step is to read aloud to a child. Find a book that is age appropriate, open it up and start reading. Point to the pictures when you read about certain characters and as your child gets older, engage them in the reading fun. Ask questions and make up elaborate stories about what is going on in the book.

Choosing the Best Books

You need to make sure that you are selecting the right books for your children for a few reasons. You need to make sure that the language is appropriate so that they are able to grasp the meanings and ultimately read the book back to you. You also want to make sure and get a book that is of interest to you because there is a good possibility that you will be reading it over and over again.

Things to be on the lookout for are:

- Books with lots of photos
- Stimulating subject
- Something fun
- Age approprate
- Pages that don’t rip easily

When you’re sharing a reading book with a child, they will love to hear the same story over and over again. The photos can help you twist the story a little each time so that you don’t grow weary of it. You can also use the photos to help explain new words to your child. When you find a fun and stimulating book, it will capture your child’s attention more easily and you will be more likely to get excited about the book because you find it fun and exciting, too.

You should also consider getting pages that don’t rip easily, especially with the younger kids. They will want to turn the pages for you, even if the story is out of turn. Let them do it because the tactile senses of turning the pages can garner fascination for reading, which is what you are ultimately trying to promote.

As long as you keep books around wherever you and your child go and show your child how much fun reading is, the development will soon follow.