1, 2, 3, Read to Me!
You've heard it said before, read every day with your child! But what if they don't like to read? What if they won't sit for a whole story? What if everyone is bored? Well, you're in luck. I am here to teach you a few tricks of the trade to make reading a fun, interactive, enjoyable activity that you can share with your child throughout their childhood.
1. LET THEM CHOOSE THE BOOK From as early as about 6 months, children can make choices simply by looking and/or reaching for a book they want. Be sure to keep books in their play area. During play time, offer them two choices. "Do you want the doggy book or the truck book?" When they look or reach for one of the books, they just made their choice. Immediately respond, "OK, you want to hear the truck book" and begin reading. It is important to accept their look and/or reach as their response to your question. Simply paying attention to your child and really cueing in to their interests (hint hint, Being Mindful) will give you a lot of information about what your child finds interesting. Older children may simply grab the book on their own or state the name to request it.
2. READ LIKE A PRO Use different voices for different characters. Make the car noises or imitate actions in the story, whisper when the characters are sleeping, don't be afraid to be silly! This will gain and keep your child's attention. Be sure to point to the pictures in the book and label them as you do. Occasionally point to the words as you read them, teaching them that left-right-sweep to the next line, manner of reading. Let your child turn the pages so they're part of the interaction rather than passively listening. Ask them to point to different pictures, ask them what noise each animal says, if someone in the book is getting tickled, tickle your child. If your child has a favorite page, read that one page only. If they turn the pages so fast you can barely keep up (like my son did) label one picture per page rather than reading the whole text on the page. There's no wrong way to read a book, as long as your child is having fun. In the early stages of book reading (under age 3) your whole goal is to get them to love the act of reading. Reading time is a time for you and your child to bond and have an enjoyable time. Don't worry about the details.
3. BOOKS ARE TOYS TOO Book reading isn't only something to be done right before bed time. As mentioned earlier, book reading can be part of play time. A book should be kept in your purse at all times so you can whip it out while waiting in line at the market, keep a box of books next to their car seat while you're driving, waterproof books can be brought into the bath, put a few books into their crib with them as they soothe themselves to sleep. Make your own books about your recent vacation, a day at the park or a special family outing. This is so easy now that digital cameras/cell phones are so handy. Simply print them out, stick them in a photo album from the dollar store and write a line or two about each picture. See, you're a children's book author and you didn't even know it! With your 6 month old up to your 3 year old, choose interactive books that have flaps, different textures to touch or hidden pictures that you need to search for throughout the book. Use caution with the electronic books that speak and make noises for them. Research shows young children are less likely to attempt to imitate those noises rather than the noises that a real live human, sitting in front of them makes. This is important because naturally imitating sounds and words heard around them is an important step in learning how to talk.
See, reading with your young child is as easy as 1, 2, 3! So relax and enjoy the process. Reading is fun!
#reading #toddlertalk #literacy #books #mindfulness #fun
