Cultivating children’s reading habits must start from early childhood

A netizen once asked me: \”What should I do if my child doesn\’t like to read?\” I asked: \”How old is your child?\” She said he was 8 years old, and I asked again: \”Have you read picture books to him before he was 6 years old? ?” She said no, she didn’t even know what a picture book was at that time. Before the child is 6 years old, it is the golden period for reading enlightenment. If he has not read any books during this period, not only will his literacy be slower, but his comprehension skills will be poor after entering elementary school. It will be more difficult for him to fall in love with reading. It can also cause long-term dyslexia and learning problems. The famous cognitive scientist Stanovich discovered through extensive research that reading also has a Matthew effect. That is to say, children who liked reading when they were young will like reading more and have stronger reading ability in the future. First, reading ability and cognitive ability complement each other. The more a child reads, the stronger his understanding, thinking, and cognitive abilities will be, and he will enjoy reading more and read faster. Second, reading ability and learning environment complement each other. The stronger a child\’s reading ability is, the wider and wider the range of reading he can read will become more and more difficult, which further stimulates the development of the brain and the reading ability will become stronger. In this way, a positive cycle of reading is formed. On the contrary, if the reading enlightenment is late and the child has reading difficulties from the beginning, his cognitive ability will improve relatively slowly, which will further increase his reading difficulties. Over time, their knowledge and abilities will gradually decline, and their learning will fall further behind, ultimately forming a vicious cycle. Therefore, Stanover proposed that we must pay attention to the development of children\’s early reading ability. So how to carry out early reading and make children fall in love with reading? Mother Rooney made the following five suggestions: ▊Create a good reading environment. A good reading environment should include two aspects: First, the objective environment. You can buy a special bookshelf for your child. Families with the conditions can also carefully arrange a reading corner for their children to create a quiet and comfortable reading environment and use the environment to influence their children. The existence of the reading corner is a grand reading ceremony – telling the children that they can read quietly and to their heart\’s content when they enter here. Every child will love their own reading nook. The second is the subjective environment. If you buy a book for your child and throw it into the reading corner, will your child fall in love with reading? Definitely not! Reading is a habit, and habits need to be guided and cultivated. To make children fall in love with reading, parents must first read quietly and carefully. Children will naturally be interested in reading if they are exposed to it. ▊Choose appropriate reading books. The best books for early reading enlightenment are of course various exquisite picture books. But how to choose picture books suitable for children is also a science, and parents need to put some thought into it. First of all, choose picture books according to the age of your children. For children who are one or two years old, it is best to choose some catchy nursery rhymes and songs to read to make them interested in books; after two years old, it is necessary to choose a variety of picture books with different themes, styles, sizes, and Colors, etc., fully stimulate his brain. The second step is to choose picture books based on the children’s hobbies. For example, if a boy likes cars, then read him more picture books about transportation. Let him like reading first, and then graduallyand then transition to other types of books. The third is to choose good picture books to read to your children. There are more and more picture books on the market. How to identify what kind of picture books are good? Inexperienced parents can first choose from publishers, picture book masters, and famous translators. You can refer to the two articles I wrote before (How to Choose Picture Book One: Those Picture Book Masters You Must Know; How to Choose Picture Book Two) : A picture book publishing house you must know). As long as parents pay attention and are exposed to more picture books, they will slowly be able to identify which are good picture books for their children. ▊Adults must first fall in love with picture books and insist on parent-child reading. Only when adults fall in love with picture books and read to children in emotional language can children fall in love with picture books. In my house, Rooney likes me to read to him, but he doesn\’t like dad to read to him. why? I found that because his father didn’t understand picture books and regarded picture books as children’s books, he had no emotion at all when reading to Rooney and often wandered in his mind. How can children like reading to children in this way? When I read the picture book to Rooney, I was completely immersed in it. Sometimes I couldn\’t help but choke up and cry when I read the touching parts. I appreciate the pictures and stories in the picture books seriously, so the child likes me to read to him. I often write some interpretations of picture books. Although my knowledge is crude, I really want more parents to fall in love with picture books like me. Because I feel that parent-child reading can only persist if adults also fall in love with picture books. ​▊Reading with your children at a fixed time every day requires a ritual. In addition to setting up a reading corner dedicated to the child, setting a time for reading every day is also a very important ritual. Our family’s daily fixed reading time is half an hour before bed. After taking a shower and putting everything away, Rooney and I lay side by side on the bed. I read the text and he looked at the pictures. When you see something funny, laugh together; when you see something sad, cry together. Through parent-child reading, I learned about his hobbies and his cognitive development level, and my relationship with him became closer and closer. ▊Regularly take your children to the library or picture book library. Libraries or picture book libraries are rich in picture book resources, allowing children to choose as much as they like. A quiet reading environment can help children stay focused. Some libraries often hold story telling sessions on weekends. A group of children sit together and listen to the library\’s volunteer aunts telling stories vividly, and they also interact from time to time. Under the influence of this atmosphere, all children will fall in love with it. picture book. 000