Reading to Your Child: 5 Tips

You want your child to know the magic and wonder that only reading can bring. Here's 5 simple things you can do to improve your child's love of books.

1. A secret to boosting your childs love of books is to read at different times of the day. In other words, dont just leave it til bed time. Make reading an activity. Make it fun. Create a comfortable environment. Pull up a few pillows and relax. Let your child pick her favorite books, and you pick several also. It should be a breeze to generate enthusiasm for reading---it is one of the most parent-child friendly activities you can pursue.

2. Another secret to elevating the status of reading is to do it everyday. You want your child to know the magic and wonder that only reading can bring. Why? Because you know shes capable of enjoying all the advantages of a tenacious life-long reader. So read to your child everydayshes more likely to identify with the characters, follow whats going on, and exhibit confidence and comfort toward reading generally.

3. Encourage relatives to purchase books for gifts. They almost always get more miles than flashy toys. Great books include the ones you loved as a childGrimms Fairy Tales, Aesops Fables, Mother Goose, Curious George, Dr. Seuss, Beatrix Potter, Shel Silverstein.

4. Let your child choose her favorite books for you to read, and among the ones you choose, choose a book thats slightly more advanced than she would pick on her own. If you adopt this habit, then your child is constantly growing into literature, not growing out of it: the events on the page remain relevant, interesting and significant. Be careful not to over shoot the mark. Reading college level classic literature to your preschooler won't turn her into a genius. It'll just frustrate her. A more appropriate leap for a preschooler might be to go from Clifford, the Big Red Dog to Madeleine.

5. Dont read to your child with the objective of quickening her ability to read on her own. The idea isnt to pressure your child into becoming an early reader, but rather to make reading as enjoyable as possible so she has the best chance to become a skillful, life-long reader. By the time shes writing essays, it wont matter whether she was an early reader. What will matter is whether she loves to read.
Additional Resources: Reading is Fundamental recommended reading list.