Teaching your child to enjoy reading is a wonderful thing you can do for them as a parent. It’s true that children will learn reading skills when they enter school. But depending on how they are taught (and the types of books they are asked to read), many kids end up associating reading with work rather than pleasure. Therefore, it is essential that they retain their desire to read and you can help them with that.
I myself started reading cloth and cardboard books to my daughter since she was about 5 months old and was stable enough to sit in my lap, holding her head up. And I have to say, she has always been interested in books and will frequently read to me or to herself (even if it’s just in her own language!). In fact, many times she will choose a book over toys. So let me share some tips on how to encourage your baby to love books and reading. The examples of specific books I’ve included are ones which have been big hits with my daughter, so you can have some idea about what to look out for. These tips are primarily for very young babies and toddlers and are meant to guide you in nurturing a love of books in your child.
1. Read aloud
A very effective way to nourish a child’s love of books is to read to them aloud – and the earlier you start, the better. Even young babies can listen to your voice and look at pictures so don’t think you can only start once baby is talking. Like I said, I started when my baby was 5 months old and over time she slowly began to turn the pages and point at certain things in her books.
2. Buy age-appropriate books
If you try to give an inquisitive 7-month old a thick book with not many pictures, I doubt that it would be able to hold his/her attention for very long. So start with cloth or extra-thick cardboard books initially and then slowly work your way into paperbacks once your child understands how to turn the pages of a book and handle it correctly (ie not chewing on or tearing the pages). Most babies love board books, pop-up books and books with ‘flaps’ which need to be opened because they can hold these and refine their motor skills. That being said, you don’t have to limit yourself to certain books when your baby is very young. You can include well-written children’s classics every once in awhile which will further feed your child’s curiosity.
Cloth/ fabric books are great for very young babies
Books with flaps are excellent for babies to test out their newly acquired fine motor skills
3. Don’t be monotonous
Let’s face it – kids love drama. So when you are reading about Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, change your voice to illustrate the different characters and provide some form of ‘animation’. Changing your intonation during scary and happy parts will help maintain your child’s interest and they will associate reading as a fun activity.
4. Repetition works
You will notice that your child is drawn to certain books over others and may go for days or weeks just wanting to read the same book over and over. Remember that repetition is essential to babies because that is how they learn. So even if you’re bored out of your mind and have memorised all the words to Goldilocks and the Three Bears, keep reading it to junior if that’s what he/she wants and you will soon notice that they may memorise certain parts of the story as well. And rest assured they will move on to a new book soon enough.
Reading the same book at bedtime will allow your child to slowly recognize words and phrases
5. Rhymes are sublime
There is a reason Nursery Rhymes appeal to kids – their short and repetitive nature is very powerful in attracting a child’s attention and arouses curiosity about rhythms and patterns of language; something a traditional story may not be able to do. Studies have shown that a child’s brain seems to process rhymes even better than they process the meanings of other words. Rhymes are also much easier to memorise and are important in language development because it helps children pay attention to the sounds of words as well as detect syllables and phonemes at an early age. So in addition to having some standard nursery rhyme books, you can also get story books that present the tales in a rhyming fashion.
Traditional Nursery Rhymes are always good for introducing books to children
There are Fairy Tale stories written in a rhyming fashion which are great at capturing a young child’s attention
6. Start a home library
Once you start reading to your baby, you will find that you are slowly accumulating more and more books. Instead of stashing them away, have a shelf or a bookcase just for your children’s books. When the books are visible and in plain sight, they become more accessible to your baby to handle freely. By allowing your child to touch and handle the books, you are helping them develop an attachment to them. Just be sure to have extra-durable books for infants so that they can bite freely without doing much damage.
Our little home library -just part of my daughter’s book collection!
7. Make books available everywhere
Apart from having books at home, you can also have books available for your child when you travel or go for dinner or shopping. For example, when your child is young and sitting in a stroller, besides having a few toys attached to your stroller, you can attach a ‘buggy book’ to your stroller which your child can handle and look at. And when you go out for dinner, instead of using a gadget as a distraction, whip out a couple of story books to keep your little one entertained.
Books that you can attach to a stroller can arouse interest in books at an early age
I hope these tips encourage you to read to your children and begin introducing them to the wonderful world of books!
She really loves her books