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Painter Mommy

Fun stuff in the Everyday Life of a Busy Mom & Entrepreneur

How to Instill the Love of Reading in Your Child

January 22, 2018 by Painter Mommy Leave a Comment

When does your child read? A) Every single day – he just loves learning and letting his imagination run free, B) Read? He uses his books to reach the TV dial or C) When I make him, come hell or Lambchops Play-along!

If your answer is ‘A,’ congratulations: Your child will grow pup with initiative, creativity, and knowledge needed in today’s competitive world. If your answer is ‘B,’ welcome to the club; many other mothers get the urge to throw the TV and computer games out the window. And if your answer is ‘C’ – well, it is a step in the right direction. Sort of.

Here are six ways on how to instill the love of reading in your child:

1. Get together with other mothers. Some kids, even if they grow to like books, might eventually abandon them because their friends want to play, or they cannot keep up with the neighborhood discussions on Barbie. Organize some reading group, or at least encourage other parents to fix their own children’s reading habits. Then you can throw back an argument your child has used for most of his life: “other kids are doing it.”

2. Don’t make reading a chore or a punishment. It is easy to tell a hyperactive or underachieving child to “Keep quiet for half an hour and just read a book.” Or “Your grades are low because you do not read enough…from now on I want you to keep books and not to play!” But this will give negative reading connotations that no amount of Brothers Grimm can erase. Separate the situation from the solution. If you do want your child to sit still, tell him to go his room, where books will be waiting for his quiet enjoyment. Or if his grades are low, limit his play, then at another time; gently explain to him how reading can help him in his studies. Books then become the friend, not the enemy, and friendship is the first step to love.

3. Do not criticize his reading. So what if he reads slowly, or if he reads the same books over and over again? The important thing is that he is reading, and if he needs correction, be sure to sandwich it with lots of his effort. “Son, I’m proud that you’re reading a lot, and writing stories of your own too! But don’t write on the books, okay?! Here, I bought you a nice notebook. If you want to write after reading, you can put it here so everyone can read your beautiful stories.”

4. Cultivate a general interest in learning. You have taught your child to love reading; now you have to teach him to take the initiative. Organize nature trips, collect bugs or flowers, or just place him in any situation that will expose him to new things. Now that his senses are stimulated, he will naturally turn to what suggestions number 1-9 have drilled into him day after day. “Hey, didn’t I read a book on that some time ago? I think I’ll look it up again when I get home.”

5. Make books available. Rarely does a child plan to read a book. It is spontaneous, like everything else he does, a hungriness that springs on a sleepy Saturday afternoon or after a wonderful discovery in the garden. So do not keep the encyclopedia set behind a locked glass case, or the fairy tale books on a shelf too high for him to reach. And most importantly, do not cripple him with the fear that he might “ruin the book.” Books are to be read, and if the pages get a little crumpled, then they are beautiful books indeed. Haven’t you read The Velveteen Rabbit?

6. Set him free. After you have instilled the love of reading in him, let him explore its realm for himself. You have given him the most beautiful gift possible, but he will never be able to know this until he discovers this on his adventuring own. If he likes Sherlock Holmes, well and good. If he prefers Ghosts and Goblins, then step back and let them be. After all, your child is A) reading every single day – he just loves to learn and allowing his imagination run free!

 


 

Author Bio: Sohail is a content marketer and a blogger, currently he is associated with Smiletutor.sg. His hobbies include writing, reading books, traveling and gardening.

How to Spark a Child’s Interest in Reading

September 21, 2010 by Painter Mommy 2 Comments

Since I was a child, Reading and Writing have always been something that I have enjoyed.  I can remember, as a young girl, going to the library with my dad and picking out books to take home.  It was always an exciting time.  Both of my parents would read to my brother and I before we went to bed.  I know that this is a huge reason why I enjoy reading today.

I feel like it is super important to introduce books and reading to our children as early as we can.  How many of us moms would read to our bellies when we were pregnant with our first babies?  That was not crazy at all!  LOL

Whether you sit down with your toddler and look at a picture book or if you read the same Dr. Seuss book over and over again, reading is something that a child can LEARN to enjoy.

Recently my son, who just started first grade, said to me that he didn’t like reading.  I know he didn’t mean it, because he actually just learned how to read and he gets excited when he sits down with a book and is able to read the words.  I think he just wanted to get out of doing his homework that day so he could play.  🙂

I started to think more about the whole topic of children and reading after getting an instruction sheet from one of my children’s teachers.   It was titled “How to make Readers out of your Children”.  These were some of the points listed:

  • Follow your child’s interest – if your child enjoys pretending to be a superhero, then look for superhero books.  If your child likes dinosaurs, then get them a book about dinosaurs.  Providing them books about things they like will definitely spark their interest in reading.
  • Share books YOU enjoyed as a child – The Dr. Seuss books are timeless when it comes to children and reading.  My kids love Green Eggs and Ham.  I think I may have memorized it by now.  LOL
  • Get a collection of fairy tales, riddles, or joke books
  • Find an Interactive Book – Some of my favorite interactive books are the “Look and Find” books where you are instructed to find certain objects  on the page.  They get so excited trying to be the first one to find what we are looking for.
  • Take your child to the library. This is big for us.  As I said in the beginning of the post, the library was a huge influence on sparking my interest in reading books as a child.  I wrote a post a while back called Library Books are a Special Part of our Daily Lives. Be sure to check it out.
  • Get “How To” Books

Those are just a few ways that you can get your child interested in reading books.  And even AFTER your child learns to read, it is still important to read TO them.   When you read a book to a child they are more likely to pick up that same book later on and read it themselves.  Children also like to read what they CHOOSE to read, so allow them to pick a book the next time you sit down to read together.

And another key point is that children who enjoy reading, actually do better in school.  As they get more and more comfortable with reading at home, they will be more comfortable and have a better self esteem about reading in school.

This bit of info really helped me to understand the importance of reading with my children and I hope that it will also help you as well.

How about you?  Do you read to your children?   Do you go to the library?  What reading rituals do you have in your family?  I would love to hear your comments!

Library Books are a Special Part of our Daily Lives

June 23, 2009 by Painter Mommy 5 Comments

Edenvale Branch Library San Jose, CA

I grew up going to the library with my dad. He would take my brother and I there a few times a month and leave us in the kid’s section while he went upstairs to the adult section.  We were old enough at that point to be alone.  I loved walking around and sitting at the little tables with a pile of books. It was then that my passion for reading began to blossom.

About  months ago, I started taking my children to the library.  We go every other week and pick out a big bag of assorted books.  They pick out a few and then go play in the little playroom that they have while I pick out the rest.

Each night, right before going to sleep, I allow my children to pick one book each from the pile and I read to them.  This is the highlight of my day, not just because I know that I will soon have some peace and quiet after putting them to bed, but because this is a wonderful opportunity to be close to my children.  We sit on the bed in their room – one sits on one side of me and one sits on the other.  They cuddle up close to me and I read all different kinds of fun stories.

My son often likes to pick books about trucks and tractors.  My daughter likes to read about animals.  I (being an artist) usually choose the books that are filled with colorful illustrations.  We just read a really funny book written by Jay Leno, called If Roast Beef Could Fly.

I have to say that that is one of my favorite children’s books as of late.  It is hilarious and the artist did an awesome job with the illustrations.  You definitely should look into borrowing this one from your local library.

Library books are a great way to get your children used to the idea of reading.  It is so important for children to learn how to enjoy books early on.

Do you take advantage of your local library and the wonderful resources they have to offer?  Many libraries offer reading programs for all ages.  Be sure to start shaping the imaginations of your children through the greatest learning resource in history – BOOKS.

Picture_books_

Don’t forget to enter my current giveaway for the Stonyfield Yogart Prize Pack which includes a snack bowl, bib, and LOTS of coupons for FREE yogart!  CLICK HERE to ENTER

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