A Closer Look: How to Raise A Confident Reader
The Wise Baby
The Wise Baby - The Definitive Baby Blog
We’ve talked about how important reading is to your kids, we’ve discussed the merits of e-reading and we’ve even offered you a few of our favorite books and steps to take to encourage reading. Today we’ll take a look at a recent article in The New York Times about how to raise an enthusiastic and proficient reader.
Dr. Daniel Willingham, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia, said that word games, paired with regularly reading to your child, is one way to boost their skills.
“Although it doesn’t come naturally, children must learn to hear speech sounds, because that’s what letters signify,” Dr. Willingham said. “A great way to do this is through word games. Experiment with alliteration (good golly, gobs of grapes), and rhyme (let’s meet this street with our feet). Children’s books that are heavy on rhyming and alliteration, such as Dr. Seuss and Mother Goose, are great read-alouds that help strengthen sound identification.”
And while you might have an avid audience in your baby or not too wiggly toddler when it comes time to read, Dr. Willingham said the average child does lose interest in reading as he or she grows older. In order to combat this:
- Make reading for leisure as fun as possible. Drop books if you don’t want to continue, skim over the parts you don’t like, peek at the ending, do voices, etc. Make a distinction between this type of reading and reading for school.
- Make books available for periods of free time. Put a basket of books in your car, and keep a book with you when you run errands.
- Model good reading habits for your children. Have reading time as a family, talk about what you are reading, and show that you value reading for both pleasure and academic success.
Wise Moms: How do you share your love of reading with your children?
