What can A Parent do To Help Their Children Become Readers

We are always striving to help our children in all areas of life. Here are some tips to help your child learn to love reading

Birth to 12 months:
Yes even at this young age according to Parent magazine will allow your child early experience in reading. The lil ones are able to find patterns in what he is able to hear and helps to boost their structure and use of language. The best books at this level are chubby books. The pictures in these books are often larger and can help infants develop eye muscles. Textured books also introduce the tiniest readers to new world expectations. By playing games of pat a cake and reading nursery rhymes your child learns to model speech in a playful nature. Reading is a lot more than books learning symbols such as the golden arches or daddy's car sends messages that they can read and understand what is going on in the world.

12 to 24 months:
your child has gathered a large listening vocabulary and soon will be talking in understandable speech. Its time that the baby talk takes a break and that proper words are use model of ts. Regular spoken language is the best model. Read often and let the books become part of every day life. Start asking questions to your child to make sure they are following along, being sure they understand what they are hearing, as well as predict events. Teach your child that there is more to read than books. Read the cereal box, recipes, or newspapers any where there is printed material for your child to read. Open up the world of interest and conversation by posing questions that take thought such as "will we get mail today" Reading has many steps built into it and many of these can be taught without a book.

2 to 3 years:
By this age the child's language begins to develop even further. There are favorite books that are read often and have become so familiar that your child may be able to share the story with you. Allow them to do this it is good practice for them and this skill will become important when they begin to write. Themes become fun at this age they may have their favorite characters and it would be so fun to read books about these characters. The seasons, home, holidays etc... will be fun themes to share and read about. Riddles are good learning tools both asking them and having them repeat them are building skills. Hero's at this age are real whether they see daddy or mommy as a hero or a character or person they are familiar with. Hero's can help teach skills in a fun interactive manner.

These tips and more can be found on the parenting website here