Reading starts Young .......

Reading has always been a soul satisfying habit of my life...

and read I do, just like a caterpillar devours all the leaves before creating its chrysalis and, from which it emerges as it’s beautiful butterfly!

Though I do not think that the caterpillar and I have the same time frames for the transformation...but I’m still waiting to form my chrysalis. That’s why I believe we must give our children, the gift of reading which, in turn helps them to unlock their true potential and transform into the beautiful butterflies that they are.

Having worked in the education sector and experienced through my own children, I have learnt that EVERY child is UNIQUE, they all have their own unique personalities and thus varying reading stages.

As an experienced Montessori Practitioner, I have found that most parents stress about their child’s progress in reading aged 3 or 4 or 5.. yet they don’t realise that .. gradually they all begin to learn to read, and eventually, they all will. As they turn 8 or 9, you will experience that every child catches up and can eventually ‘READ’. This leads to another aspect of reading. Just as every child is unique, so are their reading abilities and as an adult instead of pushing them to read, we have to fuel and help them to enhance their reading abilities.

From day one, a child progresses and develop with the right kind of stimulation. The first thing a child learns to read are your expressions....and as they develop stage after stage the complexity increases. They read your emotions, actions, behaviours, body language, facial expressions and so on. Gradually, their reading is through their responses to various sensations, actions, sounds, colours, touch, movements also many many more, and they all are in effect to the start of this process of ‘Reading’. I’m sure you would have observed that the more they ‘Read’, the faster their cognitive development.

Give them more of the same, sensory books, pictorial books / magazines to flip through, books suited for their abilities, in which they feel confident to read, this will build up their understanding, speed and most importantly the INTEREST in reading. One of our favourite things to ‘read’ were TOY SHOP catalogues, you can never go wrong with the amount of stimulation they give without the need to indulge in actual plastic.

Children love books and we as parents, teachers, grand parents or carers must provide the opportunities, create a favourable environment and nurture the child in the right direction shaping the path for NATURE to take its course.

Reading opens doors to communication, imagination, creativity and more importantly instills curiosity.

A trip to the local library where they can rummage through books that arouse their interests ( in this case you can allow them to judge a book by its cover) Though in these tough times, the library may not be

accessible but one can surely in better times, but there are also several websites to find great values to buy books and of course with friends and family we can create a book bank. Child friendly and appropriate magazines are also a great start to develop their interest in print.

Reading should be for enjoyment first, only then does learning follow....

One cannot learn until they learn to enjoy!

By

Anu...