Teaching kids to read is an important value they can carry on for a lifetime and pass on to their children and grandchildren. But kids have short attention span that is why when teaching them to read, make sure it involves a little bit of fun.
Parents are encouraged to make extra effort to read to their kids every day.
Start early by reading bedtime stories to your toddlers. Make it a fun and wonderful story telling experience for both you and your child. Infuse actions while reading and change the tone of your voice when there are dialogues. This strategy is more exciting and will keep your kid interested in the story. Provide your children, too, with the tools and skills to allow them to choose their favorite books for themselves.
Parents need to know that reading does not come naturally but a complex skill that has to be taught. It is just like learning to play the piano or driving a car. A crucial process is the teaching of alphabetic skills or relationships between letters and sounds. Research has also found the importance of breaking words down into their component parts and putting them together again in helping children to remember words.
In England, the government there has embarked on a new parenting strategy to improve literacy among children. The “Every Parent Matters Strategy” urges parents, specifically fathers and those working, to play a big role in boosting their child’s education by reading to them. The revelation that 30 percent of parents don’t read regularly to their children led to the launching of this project. Education officials in England believe that setting aside even just a tenth of the four hours spent on television every day will benefit children a lot. A National Year of Reading is also to be implemented in 2008 targeting toddlers to grandparents.
