To cultivate children who love reading, first grasp the three critical periods of parent-child reading.

Many mothers ask me, \”How to raise a child who loves to read?\” I have consciously started parent-child reading since Xiaoyu was more than five months old. Along the way, the little guy developed the habit of reading independently for half an hour every day, and reading together for about 15 minutes before going to bed. Independent reading is when he comes home from school and I will be busy preparing dinner. And he will be in his room, or on the sofa in the living room, reading the book he selected a few days ago. Today, based on some of my experience, I will talk about three critical periods for parent-child reading. I hope it can help more friends who value reading, especially new parents. The first critical period is the budding period of reading. When does this period begin? I think it starts when the child is a few months old. Some parents even sing softly and read short stories to their babies since they are in the womb. Will this have any effect? I think the biggest role should be to familiarize children with their parents’ voices. When a child is born and comes into contact with books for the first time, he will definitely not know what they are. But this does not mean that children cannot \”read\”. When I told some friends that children can be exposed to books from a few months old. Many mothers\’ eyes widened. Some fathers directly said, \”You are trying to push a child\’s growth. A baby who is only a few months old can only drink milk, and you are reading to him!\” \”Then why do you have to ring a bell for him, prepare a rattle, and buy a bunch of toys?\” What?\” \”Children want to play! Children all love toys!\” \”In fact, books are also very fun, such as the interesting hole-in-the-dark books. There are many toy books!\” \”It\’s better to play with toys!\” When encountering such a conversation , I understand my parents’ thoughts very well. Because many people think reading is a serious and boring thing, they don\’t want to put their children in this cage at such a young age. However, I always hope that children can know \”This is a book, and it is interesting!\” That\’s it. From birth, children will use their senses of hearing, vision, taste, touch, and smell to become familiar with the environment and understand things. During this period, children can be exposed to books, and parents can start reading together. The efforts during this period will lay a solid foundation for the subsequent cultivation of reading habits, and in the budding period of reading, the cultivation of this interest should be dominant. If you ask what age is this period? There is actually no fixed age. However, we can roughly estimate that it can start when a child is interested in toys. It usually starts when a few months old and lasts until 2 years old. Because I found that before my son was two years old, he was basically unable to listen to a complete story. They always run away midway, or refuse outright. I remember showing him \”My Dad\” and \”My Mom\” ​​at that time. I told him, this is my dad. He ignored me at all. Maybe he simply can\’t understand what this is. He likes it when I hold him and run around. Maybe telling him that I am your daddy will make him more interested. So how did I spend this stage with him? I didn\’t force him to read it. Instead, find moments when he is quiet and dependent on me. Take out interesting books and tell him about them. Sometimes kids really pay attention for a while. It just accumulates slowly, in minutes and minutes. day after dayAfter my persistence, the door to parent-child reading opened step by step. The second stage is the parent-child reading period. In fact, parent-child reading together is always present. For children who are only in their budding stage, it may break your expectations of parent-child reading. But if you really persist, the child will have an explosive period after the age of two. At this time, they begin to know \”What are books?\” and \”What can books bring?\” This is very important. Because from this stage, children will pay attention to the pictures and colors in picture books. Especially animal picture books can attract children\’s attention. Because small animals are closer to children. And the protagonists of many picture book stories are animals. For example, the little black fish, the little rabbit and the big rabbit that guess how much I love you, the runaway little rabbit, the hen Luosi, the big bad wolf, etc. Children\’s world will become richer because of books. Children at this time will like this feeling and will start to pester their parents to tell stories. And will listen to the same story over and over again. Because the familiar story sounds better over and over again, and I gradually understand it. In addition, such familiarity can bring a sense of security. Almost all children\’s real reading begins by reading pictures. So don’t expect your children to be literate from the beginning. A mother asked me: \”Father, a mother in the same community trained her child to read when he was two years old. Now he can recognize four to five hundred words at the age of four. However, his son still cannot read a few big characters at the age of five. What do you think? Don’t you want your children to learn literacy while reading?” I don’t agree with reading with the purpose of literacy. Because this will ruin your child\’s interest in reading. When children read pictures, they are actually understanding information. You think he doesn\’t understand, but many times, adults don\’t necessarily understand it better than children. On the contrary, children\’s eyes can detect different things. I think the age group for reading together will be concentrated between 3-6 years old. Sometimes it takes longer, lasting up to 8 years old. Montessori also pointed out that children’s culturally sensitive period begins at the age of 3. During this period, children will have a sensitive period for literacy. The reading suggestions during this period are: you can read some classic picture books to your children. Don’t think that your children are illiterate and don’t read to them. Instead, read more so that your children can learn from them. Recognize words at a macro level. So don\’t be too anxious. Because when I read, I didn’t ask my children to read. But in life, the little fish will also ask me some words, and I will seize his sensitive period and teach him how to read. And if he has the habit of reading, he will be pleasantly surprised to find that the words he knows appear here. This kind of feeling is integrated and will definitely be more interesting than simple literacy. The third stage is the independent reading period. After children experience literacy in early childhood, transition from pictures to text, and initially develop an interest in reading, they begin to have their own clear reading hobbies. Children should enter the first and most important golden reading period in their lives. This stage usually occurs between the ages of 8-10. Of course, before this, parents need to lay two foundations for their children. One is understanding ability. Children who love reading will have outstanding comprehension skills. Xiao Xiaoyu also started to play piano this year. The teacher said that his progress is relatively fast in the class. Although he is a freshman, his understanding ability is good. Therefore, it is not very difficult for him to learn these talents. thisIt should be due to the power of reading. A mother once said that her child knew many words. At that time, the child recognized it when it was written down, but once it was in the book, he didn\’t even recognize it when you pointed it out. She felt very distressed. In fact, this is because the child\’s understanding ability has not caught up. They are simply memorizing and reciting, rather than memorizing with understanding. Only what you understand can be used for your own use. Consolidate it through reading again and again, and finally become your own thing. Another one is the ability to express yourself. In the process of parent-child reading, children must be consciously encouraged to express themselves. You can start by retelling the story. Retelling a story does not mean forcing the child to recite the entire story. Instead, look at the picture and talk about what it is. Let the children look at the pictures one by one, and then slowly connect them together. I sometimes ask my son to retell it to me, and he says it is very difficult. Then I won\’t force him, but let him look at the pictures and tell me whatever he wants, and he is allowed to add his own ideas. It turned out that he could really tell a story, but it was often adapted by him. But it was very helpful to his imagination. Reading is not about memorizing. When a child has this output ability. You will develop the ability to read independently and it will be of great help to your future writing. After making these two preparations, you still need to choose the right book for your child. For example, story books, popular science books, and picture books with a certain proportion of pictures and text are all acceptable. You can continue reading pure text, so don’t rush. After the child\’s ability is reached, there will be a feeling that things will come naturally. Of course, we can also let children get in touch with reading profound books, and they can no longer simply stay at the picture book stage, such as classic world masterpieces like the \”International Hans Christian Andersen Award Book Series\”. In addition, do not force your child to read books that he is not interested in, and do not prevent him from reading the books he wants to read. Some mothers see their children only reading comics every day and force them to read literary books. The children will definitely not be able to accept it all at once. You can give him some beautiful picture books with strong stories. There are still many pictures and relatively few words to give the child a transition. There are many things you can do during this transition. For example, recommend some good books to children and arouse their curiosity. Increase the proportion of other books. Slowly the focus shifted. Children who have truly developed the habit of reading generally read a lot and are rarely picky about food. When children have the ability to read independently, they are like sponges, absorbing surrounding information. Their literacy continues to increase, their reading tentacles continue to extend, and their reading horizons continue to expand. If children\’s reading habits are not well developed during this golden period, it will cause irreparable shortcomings. If you try to make up for it in your senior year or college, you will inevitably end up with \”congenital defects\” that cannot be cured. On the road of parent-child reading, the first person who can accompany the child to start is definitely the parents. If you really want your child to go further, you must give him a reading habit as early as possible. Please seize these three critical periods and believe that the world will not treat children who love reading badly.