Author: Shenessa Barreto | October 6th, 2021
The importance weighed on reading to or for children cannot be underestimated. Reading for pleasure benefits a child’s overall education. Enhancing social and cognitive development, the child wellbeing and their mental health. So, how do we shift the focus from books just for study and encourage children to read much more, especially for pleasure?
- First – read yourself! Preferably not on a gadget, let your children see you reading for enjoyment.
- Make reading a storybook together a daily affair. One of the best times to share this experience is at bedtime.
- Start as early as possible. Picture books are a great option.
- Use finger or hand puppets and animated voices. This improves engagement in younger kids AND is great fun.
- Make reading time interesting. Ask questions and talk about favourite characters, try word search for simple words, as your child recognises letters.
- It’s okay to read the same book every night if your child requests it again. It improves speed and accuracy.
- Encourage finding the meanings of new words as it improves vocabulary.
- Set aside reading time for independent reading for you and your child. Seeing you read will motivate your child too.
If your child is struggling with reading even after being exposed to all these activities, they may need to be assessed by a professional to find out the underlying causes of their difficulties. Children who profess ‘I don’t like reading or reading is boring’ usually mean reading is a struggle – it doesn’t come naturally to me.
If your child enjoys and looks forward to reading for pleasure, their reading capacity and vocabulary will continue to improve. This will result in those school textbooks becoming a breeze, the effort and struggle of working out ‘what’ they say shifts to retaining and understanding what they ‘mean’ – a win-win situation.
Call Sethu for an appointment today!
SHENESSA BARRETO
Psychologist