Five Ways To Stimulate Our Children In Reading

I love reading as much as I enjoy writing. The earliest memory I hold of my fondness with a book is as early as before I started schooling. I remember the small pink book Listening To The Great Teacher. I can't even read a single word, but I remember how I hold it close to my heart, wishing I could read the stories there. How time flies. Now, I am a mother of a toddler who also loves books, and he enjoys the time when me or his father read a book for him.

We are living at the cyber age. Actually, cyber has been merely a common prefix. I am using this word to pertain this modern world where nearly everyone uses a computer. Children lose their interest in reading books. The question is: how we can stimulate our young ones to have an interest in books, to love reading, and as times go by, they can become a comprehensive reader?

I listed five ways on how we can motivate or stimulate our children to love books and to enjoy reading.

1. Don't choose, have your child choose. We cannot encourage our child to read if we are the one who choose the book that they are going to read. Even in the early years, it is our role to give our child choices. As parents, we know what our child's interest. From there we can set out some books that they can choose from. We can even bring our children to the library, you will amaze how a small hand instantly grabs a book that he or she likes.

2. Establish a routine for reading. To stimulate our children for reading, we set a time to read with them. The reading time must not be overly formal. We can set it at any time of the day, during snack time, before going to bed, or even when we are resting. Reading is an activity that can fit almost any time of the day.

3. Read loud, or lead aloud together. My son is just a preschooler. They have a regular reading time in school. Now, I am also starting to have a time to read load a book with him. He enjoys it, sitting beside me and listening. When I am done reading the book, he will say fast: "meer! Meer! Means, more-more!

4. Talk with your child about what you are reading. The best way to have your child get involved in your reading time is to raise a question. Questions that are appropriate for their age. I asked questions depend on what my son sees in the pictures in the book. Most of the times, he doesn't wait for a question, he happily tells what he picks up in the book: things, animals, people, even emotion.

5. Be an example that you enjoy reading. Children often imitate their parents' behavior. They are good to mime gestures and body moves. It also applies in our reading pattern. The way we set pattern to our children on important facets in life, such as reading enjoyment will bring them a lifelong benefit.