Inculcating Reading Habits in Your Child

“Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body” by Joseph Addison

The current developing scenario of our Indian education system, aims to achieve holistic growth of a child. And we as a responsible parent are working and supporting our child to reach to his maximum potentials of learning. We make our child learn, help in project works, send him to his favourite hobby classes, take him outdoors to rejuvenate himself , yet in all the above mentioned things we forget to feed his/her mind. “Reading” is the most neglected component of learning and hence there are only few among us who actually lay emphasis on this. We crib upon poor writing skills of our child but forget to understand that writing is the last component of learning which comes after Reading. Our child is becoming a robot, he doesn’t read, he rote learn the concepts due to poor reading habits. Reading is the exercise to the mind; it generates curiosity, imagination, creativity, empathy and so many endless qualities in a developing child. As a parent we should follow few tips given below to inculcate reading habits in a child since the beginning of childhood:

1. Become your child’s role model:

Read in front of your child to develop his interest in books.

2. Take him to a book tour:

Take your child to a nearby book fair or any library / book store to give him the exposure to variety of colourful and beautiful books.

3. Listening is a Key:

Reading aloud to your child develop his interest in the books even when He is an infant and has not yet started speaking and reading.

4. Share bed time stories:

Go back to the roots! Remember we all enjoy our grandparent’s bed   times Stories. Take out some time and read at least one story to your child before he sleeps.

5. Create a small Reading Corner:

Use your creativity and make a small reading corner or a reading shelf at home. Fill that corner with some interesting and attractive books with colourful characters. Believe it! Your child will surely pick a book and start reading.

In the end, remember not to combine technology with reading habits especially during childhood. There are various E- book readers i.e. Kindle etc. available these days and you might think to gift it to your child. Don’t do that, as those E-readers are not as attractive as colourful books and can never turn a non-reader into a reader. You can save this idea of gifting E- reader to your child for future, but not at this tender age. Hence, Keep Reading! Keep Learning!