Children need role models (Part 2)

“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents”, Emilie Buchwald. This quotation reinforces the central role the parents have in turning their children into successful readers. In this article I will continue to focus on the role of parents and the empirical strategies that parents could use to help their children become successful readers. As parents there are lots of opportunities we could offer to our children to become successful readers. We could inspire our young readers to become great leaders! The tips below offer some fun ways you can help your child become a happy and confident reader. First and foremost as parents we need to know that a child’s success as a reader begins much earlier than the first days of school. Reading, and love for reading, begins at home. It’s also important to know that children are turned successful readers “on laps of their parents…” So, parents should engage their children in books before they start school. Telling stories and reading short story books for toddlers are some of the proven strategies that can help a child develop love for reading and books at an earliest stage of life. Since children have shorter concentration span, it’s important to know that when you are reading for your child or telling him/her a story “keep it short and simple”. Read it bits by bits but make it a habit and do it several times. Also parents should take time to listen to their children’s questions and answers. Children have strong opinions and interesting ideas about their environment. When reading with them encourage your child to tell you what he or she thinks. By doing so you’ll build their language skills which are necessary and essential for successful readers. In addition, parents should know that reading with a very young child is primarily about building positive experiences with books and not necessarily finishing every book you start. So one of the best practices for building this experience is trying different story books at different times for shorter periods and not finishing assignments! There are various strategies parents can use to make their children love reading and books. On top of the already mentioned here is a list of more tips for parents to groom confident and successful readers; Take a book with you every time you and your child have to wait for long such as in hospital, at church, on bus among other places. It’s also important to encourage your child to re-read their favorite books because repeated reading helps children to read more quickly and accurately. As parents if we are to groom our children into ardent readers we should take control of the television and other technology fall offs, buy books for our children, read for our children as they read for us in turn. Most importantly, as parents the value that we attach to books and reading, the more we act as role models by reading for our children the more we raise our children into successful readers. As parents our behavior and association with the book world will impact our children either negatively or positively later in their lives and by extension influence their reading habits as adults. At this point I would like to ask some rhetoric questions. As a father or mother how often have you bought a book as a birthday gift for your child? As a father or mother how often have you come back from a trip and the first present to your child is a book? How often have you taken your daughter or son to a bookshop and tell them to pick interesting book/books of their choice? All in all, like in other many aspects of life, parent shave the central role in inculcating positive attitudes into their children when it comes to books and reading. The value and importance parents attach on books and reading, the more the children interact with books in their homes the better readers they become as adults.The author is an Educationist, author and publisher.