"Reading gives life, more life"
-anonymous
A child is like wet clay. It acquires whatever shape we give to it. Getting a child to read is just like shaping the wet clay into a good form. As we all know reading gives us not only knowledge but also confidence. A child who is an avid reader is a child who is independent and conscious of the world around him/her. It makes the child academically proficient in the future and most importantly, it keeps him/her away from watching television and playing video games throughout the day. Reading is not only enjoyable but also productive.
A child would become an engaged reader only by the parent’s interest in reading. It requires personal experience and confidence in parents to get their child to read.
· Making your child a listener before making him/her a reader.
A child’s interests in books would grow slowly. He/she must first connect to books before actually taking up a book and start reading it. The connecting procedure starts from the time parents starts reading out stories to their children. A child, while listening to stories imagines the world, be it a fairy land where a monster has trapped a princess in a dungeon or about a boy and his friends and their daily life. Listening to stories opens a new world to them and in turn they would themselves be interested to delve into books to experience the stories themselves.
· Creating a reading environment in the house
A child siphons the nature and the environment he/she lives in. Creating a reading environment would automatically get them to read. By watching their parents and other members of the house, they would come to know that reading is as normal as their daily chores. It may also benefit by making a reading corner in the house and dedicate a time when each and every member of the family reads something. In this way, the child would also read in the particular time frame and in the desired location.
· Encouraging your child to take part in various literary competitions in school and becoming a member of the literary club
Schools are a great place to pick up good habits. Many times children do not want to take part in literary activities and competitions in school because of the fear of not winning. Preparing for such literary activities would require extensive reading. Parents must make them understand that these literary activities boost up their knowledge and every competition is not about winning. If he/she wins, it is very good. If not, they would acquire experience.
· Making regular visits to the local library
Local libraries are a store house of great books of different authors and genres. There are books for every ages and the environment in a library itself would encourage a child to take out the interesting book from the shelf and read it.
· And lastly, encourage your child to write.
Writing is an expression of self. With writing, one expresses his inner compartments of love, joy, sorrow and other feelings. Your child may not reciprocate such complex thoughts but writing anything, prose poetry or essays, would develop his or her literary mindset. This would also develop their reading interests.
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