Reading as a hobby is one of the best leisure times any child could have. Parents who encourage reading in their children from their initial days help them boost their vocabulary and communicate with people better.
Becoming a reader can’t happen overnight, though, and if parents try too hard to get their children to like reading, they might even cause damage. To motivate children to read and have fun while reading, parents need to make sure they include interesting strategies in their daily lives. Below are a few things they could follow.
Make Use of Technology
While gadgets might be something parents keep far away if they want their children to become good readers, with some parental supervision, using technology can prove to be a blessing in disguise.
Numerous online applications offer games, picture stories, and short practice quizzes that help improve your children’s sentence structuring, comprehension, and story-telling skills and urge them to read more and more.
Go to Libraries or Bring Libraries to Your Home.
Make a routine of going to a library where you and your child can be amongst various books to grab your children’s attention. Get library cards for your children and involve the librarians if needed. They can recommend books according to the preferences and age of your child.
Even if you can’t go to the library regularly, you can set up a small reading area at your home. Be it in your study or your child’s room, make space for a small bookshelf and a reading lamp and add a nice collection of your child’s favorite books and even some colors or paints too.
Read and Converse with Your Children.
Communicating with your children is crucial. You want them to develop their reading skills. Talking to your children and using new words will have them expand their vocabulary by using those words in their speech.
You can start by singing along to their favorite songs, nursery poems, and even play games where you both have to describe anything in front of you. Reading stories to them every day helps as well. Remember, motivating your children to speak with you is the key.
Concluding Thoughts
Encouraging reading in your children should begin from when they are toddlers. It is not only easier for parents to incorporate reading in their child’s life at that time, but easier for the child.
Initial years and when they start school are when children develop habits that stick with them for a long time. Including more books and less television can help the child take more interest in literary activities and become enthusiastic readers.