It’s never too early to start nurturing a lifelong love of reading. Getting your kids hooked on books right from the start is a wonderful seed that you can plant and watch grow throughout your child’s life. So begin reading early on and often. Not only does reading books together with your child promote language skills and vocabulary development, but you’ll find that it is an extremely enjoyable experience you’re both sure to treasure. Here are a few tips to help you develop your home library and reading routines.
Invest in an Age Appropriate and Interesting Home Library
Remember that it’s quality not quantity when it comes to purchasing children’s books and developing a home library. Since young children thrive on repetition, you’ll find that a few well chosen books will do. Without a doubt, you will be asked to read the same books over and over again. Children really enjoy the predictability of hearing the same story, and the constant story repetition strengthens comprehension. See Little Ones Great/Award-Winning Children’s Books.
Most importantly, once you have built up your library, make it easily accessible to your child. The best type of books are books that look like they’ve been through the wringer. You can bet that they’ve been read over and over again. Books on a high shelf stay very neat, but are not likely to be looked at often as books that are piled in a small see through plastic bin and left right on the floor next to the toy bins.
Read! Read! Read!
Try, if possible, to set up a daily reading routine. Once you’ve invested in a home library, make sure you use it regularly. Many children enjoy having a bedtime story read to them, but don’t stop there. Introduce reading throughout the day, whether during a quiet playtime, before a naptime or whenever possible. You can start as soon as you’d like. Some children are read to while still in the womb, while others are merely a few weeks old, and others a few months old. There are no rules regarding when to first start reading to your child. You decide what makes you comfortable. At first, reading to an infant or baby may seem absolutely ridiculous. They have difficulty keeping focused on the book for any period of time and simply don’t seem to be getting anything out of it. Especially in the beginning, it may be necessary to read for only a minute or two and gradually increase the length of time each day or week. Hang in there, be patient and you’ll be surprised at how they will soon recognize and respond to favorite images over a period of time, and when they do, you’ll start to enjoy the fruits of your labors.
Get involved in the books as much as possible. Explain and make comments about the pictures while reading. Ask simple rhetorical questions about what they see on the page or what might happen next. Soon enough your child will be able to respond to your inquiries and make comments of his or her own. Involve them by asking them to select from their little library which books they would like to have read.
Good Luck and Happy Reading!!!!!!
