One of the most important skills that we can learn and continue to develop, no matter what age we are, is reading.
Reading is one of the primary components of the toolset needed to thrive in education at any age. It improves our ability to think creatively and to grasp abstract concepts.
There is even science supporting that our ability to think is directly tied to our vocabulary and understanding of language.
If you can’t grapple with complex words and sentences, then you can’t think about them very well, either.
Reading is vital. So, what can you do to ensure that you’re teaching your child to read right? That’s what we’re going to look at here.
Start Early By Reading Aloud To Them
Long before they’re able to start picking words off the page, you need to ensure that you’re doing what you can to lead your child down the path that can turn them into avid readers.
Building a love of reading and stories almost always begins with having read-aloud sessions with them.
Introducing themes to books, especially picture books, before they can understand words can foster an interest in books that turns into a passion for reading.
Reading aloud to them gets them used to the rhythm of language, and the concept of engaging with books, which can build those literacy skills early.
What’s more, if you start reading to them early and make it fun for them, then children typically learn to associate reading with feelings of comfort and joy, which makes them more likely to engage in it later, too.
Create An Environment Dedicated To Reading
If you create an environment that not only encourages your child to read and to be curious about books but where they can do it comfortably and without distraction, then they are a lot more likely to actively take to it under their own initiative as well.
Create a cozy reading nook at home, with furniture perfectly sized for them to get comfy, and an age-appropriate selection of books that they are likely to love.
You can make the environment exciting by rotating which books are most prominent on their bookshelves, and you can even structure it like a library, so they can easily find the books that align with what they’re currently interested in reading.
Incorporate It Into Their Routine
In order to ensure that a child truly develops a love for a given hobby or activity, you need to avoid making it feel like a chore.
As such, mandating a reading time for them has to be done with some care.
For a lot of children, the perfect time to start reading stories is right before bed, and it becomes something a lot of children look forward to every night.
You want to avoid trying to sit them down to read when they’re too full of beans, such as when they get home from daycare or preschool and are likely to be too excitable.
Having a reading session during or shortly after meals, for instance, can work a lot better.
Regular storytelling makes reading a consistent and enjoyable way to spend time together, and it builds anticipation and excitement, turning books into an integral part of a child’s day.
Work On Both Sides Of Reading With Them
If your child is having some difficulty getting to the next stage of reading skills, then understanding the mechanics of reading and how we actually learn to do it can help you focus on the skills that they currently lack.
There are two basic kinds of reading skills that you should work on: phonemic vs phonological.
Phonological skills are all about being able to recognize sound patterns in language, like syllables and rhymes.
Meanwhile, phonemic awareness is all about being able to recognize individual sounds in those words.
Teaching those different techniques, whether it’s clapping along the syllables to help your child better enunciate each part of the word, to practicing the different sounds that a combination of letters makes can help your child become a fluent reader.
It’s an important step between being able to read the words and understand them, to being able to speak them clearly as they are reading.
Try Out More Interactive Books, As Well
If your child isn’t engaging with reading as much as you would like, then you should consider trying books that go a little further than the norm to maintain their attention, as well.
Picture books are a great stepping stone into reading, but they aren’t the only way to keep your child engaged beyond the words themselves.
Options such as pop-up books, sound books, or even interactive e-books can get your child to engage more directly with the story through the right use of tactile and auditory stimuli.
These formats make reading fun and accessible, especially for reluctant readers or those with short attention spans.
Interactive features also enhance comprehension by reinforcing concepts visually and aurally.
Keep Books Age-Appropriate With Them
One of the most important steps towards keeping reading as a hobby, and indeed, one of the biggest strengths of reading for their brain development, is to keep challenging them and engaging them.
If you keep the same books around the home, or you don’t evolve the books they read to match and keep pushing their reading level, then they are naturally going to disengage more easily.
You need to not only keep introducing exciting new stories, but the books should keep encouraging them to learn new words and to play with different concepts in their head.
Otherwise, reading can quickly become something that feels boring to them.
Encourage Questions and Conversation
Reading should not be seen as a passive activity, either. It’s something that they can engage with actively.
One of the best ways to do this is to ask open-ended questions about the books that you’re reading together.
Ask them what they think of the plot, of different characters, and the themes explored in a book.
If they have questions of their own, do what you can to encourage them to ask without fear of embarrassment or being laughed at.
Engaging with a child’s curiosity thoroughly will build their confidence in exploring it, can can deepen their understanding and critical thinking.
Encouraging children to predict outcomes or imagine alternative endings makes reading an active, rather than passive, experience, boosting engagement.
Be Their Role Model And Show Them The Way
If you want your child to become an avid reader, then the best way is to be one yourself.
Children naturally emulate their parents and older figures around them.
They already want to be like you, so by demonstrating your own love for reading, your children are a lot more likely to follow suit.
What’s more, it shows them that books aren’t just something for children their age.
They are an interest that they can carry with them for as long as they want to, which makes them a lot less likely to discard the hobby entirely out of some fear of being perceived as immature by their peers.
With the tips above, you can make sure that your child is given all the tools that they need to read and the habit of doing it often enough that they’re able to keep up or even exceed the reading level expected of their age.
You can’t always predetermine when a child is going to excel or engage with reading well, but you can give them the best chance of doing so with the tips above.
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