“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates’ loot on Treasure Island” - Walt Disney
“Did you ever have trouble teaching me the alphabet or making me finish homework when I was little?” my precocious daughter asked me. “Never,” I asserted, “I made you readers first and students later.”
This has always been my advice to anxious mothers, who have approached me over the years asking me how to inculcate the reading habit in their children or how to make them fall in love with books.
As a mother and as an educationist, here are a few tips that I have found useful in developing reading as a lifestyle.
Read out loud: Children are made readers on the laps of their parents. Both parents should take turns to read out loud to their wards. In India, most parents undermine the importance of this activity. Also, there is a myth that it is the mother’s responsibility to develop the reading habit in children. Remember, parenting is a shared responsibility. So, fathers, don the reading cap if you wish to see your kids grow up to be “readers”.
Catch them young: Do not wait for them to grow up. Ignite the passion of reading in children at a tender age. Thomas Paine once said, “The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.” I remember, I began singing nursery rhymes to my daughters when they were in their cradles, and could hardly make any head or tail of it. My perseverance paid off when they could recite all the rhymes before they started kindergarten. It is the same for reading too. Read out to them even if they are too young to comprehend anything. One day they will be grateful to you for your time and effort.
{{/usCountry}}Catch them young: Do not wait for them to grow up. Ignite the passion of reading in children at a tender age. Thomas Paine once said, “The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.” I remember, I began singing nursery rhymes to my daughters when they were in their cradles, and could hardly make any head or tail of it. My perseverance paid off when they could recite all the rhymes before they started kindergarten. It is the same for reading too. Read out to them even if they are too young to comprehend anything. One day they will be grateful to you for your time and effort.
{{/usCountry}}A gift that keeps on giving: On every occasion, and for every little achievement, gift your child a book. After all, “a book is a gift, you can open again and again.” Teach the child to value a book by giving and receiving books on all happy occasions. The child would learn to relate happy memories to the books he or she received and would cherish them throughout his life. Similarly, encourage them to buy books for you for your special occasions as well. Ask them to scribble a note for you and do the same for them to turn ordinary books into lifelong memories.
Better a bookaholic than shopaholic: You can never buy enough books! In fact, the best blessing you can give your child is to wish for their shelves to always overflow with books. Take them on a trip to a bookstore or a library and let them spend “happy hours” in the company of books. These days, you can find seating areas in good bookstores where the child can spend hours ‘leafing’ through books. He may or may not end up buying those books, but would definitely come back for more.
‘Monkey and cap’ approach: It is said that children are great imitators. So, give them something great to imitate. Children become imitators by the age of three. Little girls imitate their mothers by putting on lipstick or nail polish and little boys imitate their fathers in mannerisms . So, implement the ‘monkey and the cap seller approach’ if you wish them to develop a reading habit. Pick up a book in front of them and they will imitate you. Parents often spend their free time surfing internet or scrolling through their mobile phones and then wonder who taught their children to do the same. Put away your mobile phones after dinner time and instead sit with your children with a book in hand and see the difference. “All people are the same, only their habits differ,” the wise man, Confucius had rightly said.
Do not foist your choice: Do not force your child to read what you want, let him read what he wants. Often parents complain, “I want my child to read motivational books or biographies of great men but he prefers to read science fiction or comics.” My humble suggestion to such parents is: don’t make choices for your child. Men become great by making independent choices and not by following blindly. The world does not need reason alone. Let there be some place for imagination too for it is Einstein who said, “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
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