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Teaching Children an Appreciation of Reading

by Evelyn Petersen

Kids who watch videos, no matter how interesting, are more likely to turn into couch potatoes than good readers. Reading is what grows active readers; television grows spectators.
Frankly, I think that most children's videos are an excuse for parents to avoid the opportunity of talking, listening and reading to their children. Seating children in front of a picture tube that tells "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" is a very poor substitute for hearing that story (told with expression and voice changes) by a parent, especially while sitting in the parent's lap. Here are my tips for growing children who enjoy reading.

Talk with your children as they play, and as you do chores or go shopping. Ask and answer questions and teach them new words.

Read with your children every day. Ask them about the story and let them interrupt with comments so that they learn to read "between the lines" and know why characters do what they do.

Let them see you reading and enjoying what you read.

If you have older children in your home, encourage them to read to your younger children.

Get each child a library card and go to the library regularly. The librarian will help you pick out wonderful books, including wordless books that require your children to tell the story.

Find children books, magazines and pictures about their special interests...birds, horses, forests, the sea, etc.

Read things you see during the day...cereal boxes, cans, traffic and exit signs, and signs in store windows and in grocery stores.

Plan mini walks and trips in your town to generate new experiences to talk about and new words. (Try your fire station, harbor or airport.)

Try children's poetry books or tapes with rhymes and songs. Sing together as you ride in the car, take a walk, or do chores. Rhymes make children more aware of word sounds.

Children love it when you tell stories about yourself, the family or them, when they were "little". Write the stories in a scrapbook and let them draw the illustrations. Then let them tell the stories to you.

Let your children play dress up and act out stories. Its creative, it's fun, and it helps them practice new words and language skills.

Ms. Petersen's nationally syndicated parenting column is carried in over 200 newspapers twice each week. As a family/parenting consultant, early childhood educator, Head Start consultant, and host of a series of parent training audio and video tapes, Ms. Petersen employs an approach of providing hands-on, nuts and bolts advice to parents across the country. Her new book "A Practical Guide to Early Childhood Planning: The What Why and How of Lesson Plans" has just been released.

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