It’s Summer and Time to Raise a Reader June 3, 2008
Posted by artinshamrocks in Toddlers, education.Tags: books, reading, summer
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Fun is the ticket to raising a reader! And summer is the season for fun. Reading is not an elective in life, it’s a necessity. Find out what your kids like and start reading about those subjects with them. Enjoy books together and let them see you read. The joy of sharing books is the most wonderful gift you can give your child and what better time then this summer?
You will need: A warm snuggly toddler or perhaps a sullen preteen-whatever you have lying around, a fun variety of books and printed materials, endless enthusiasm, patience, a positive attitude, the love of reading and a good sprinkling of FUN!
Step 1: Begin when your child is born. Read, sing, repeat nursery rhymes and point to pictures. Let your baby play with the book and maybe taste it. Hold the book so your child can see it clearly. Don’t forget to continue reading with your children into their teen years but it’s never too soon or too late to start.
Step 2: Let your child see you read often. Modeling the enjoyment of reading is extremely important. You can read any material that interests you including books, magazines and the newspaper. Have a big variety of printed materials in your home for you and your child.
Step 3: Take advantage of your local libraries for family outings. Check out library, school and bookstore promotions and contests. Get recommended grade level reading lists from your child’s teacher and work from the Newberry and Calidcott lists for award winning children’s classics.
Step 4: Help your child develop phonemic awareness which is the understanding that words are made up of smaller sounds. Play games with the sounds and find words that sound alike. Talking about what words mean expands their vocabulary.
Step 5: Make a special time and place in your home to read. Encourage older children to read to younger siblings. Nap time, bed time or after dinner are good times but so are times when you are “waiting” such as doctor appointments, in line somewhere or on trips. Audio tapes in the car or even sharing your favorite ghost story camping all help to raise a reading. Give books to your child and others as gifts.
Step 6: Be a fan of silly reading! If your child loves Captain Underpants and Junie B. Jones then read that.
You little one may ask for the same book over and over. Perhaps your child is turned on by bugs or dinosaurs or quantum physics. Hobbies are a great place to start reading non-fiction. Trying to read something that doesn’t interest them will turn into a chore for you and them.
When it’s your turn to read use lots of expression and animated voices. Ask questions about the story and dicuss the characters. Ask the child open-ended questions. Encourage little ones to point to the pictures and repeat words or pick out all the red things or count the words beginning with S. Be an example to your children by letting them see you read books too.
Don’t demonize other media. Don’t make computers and TV the bad guys. Those things are not going away and we do a disservice to our children by saying “TV is bad, reading is good”. Give children the freedom to choose what they want to read rather than what you think they should read. You can gently influence their choices later. Make it FUN and not a chore and you will easily raise a reader and have a fun fulfilling summer!
Too Much Video Game Time? May 23, 2008
Posted by artinshamrocks in Parenting Teens, education, technology.Tags: summer, technology, teenagers, video games
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If your child is spending more than two hours a day with video games, videos/DVD’s, computer games or television it is probably too much. With summer coming, you’ll want to put a plan in place to set a few limits. Here are some suggestions:
*Bring hand held video games to social events only on special occasions. If the gameboy or DS Lite is accompanying every trip to a friend’s house or on each errand you run, your child might be racking up quite a few hours of play and missing opportunities to mingle socially.
*Allow your child to play for a predetermined amount of time and designate certain days as “game” free. Consider doing the same thing with the computer and television. This does not have to be painful or drastic…every family is different and any limit you set will help.
*When friends come to visit limit the group’s game time and suggest they do something more active after a period of time.
*Most important is communicating to your child why you are setting limits and why you are reducing their screen time. Be flexible and go slowly, especially if you’ve never had limits before. You need to do what feels right for your home and your child.
*There are many good things about all this technology and this is the world your child will live in so give all of this careful thought. Don’t use video games or television as a babysitter all the time but don’t let this become a huge issue or tug of war in your family. A happy medium can be reached with some thoughtful parenting.
