A love of reading

A love of reading

The most important way to contribute to your child’s reading success by far is to foster a love of reading in your child.  The very best way to do this is to read to your child as often as possible.  Spend time snuggled up together reading books and show them that reading is an activity to be valued and enjoyed.  Reading is not only for bedtime and, when possible, make time to read together at different points of the day.  Let your child see that you read for pleasure as well.  Talk about your favourite books or tell them how much you are looking forward to finding out what happens next in a book that you are reading.  If you value reading, so will they.

Ideas to get your little one excited about reading

• Read to your child as often as possible.

• Let your child pick what book he or she wants to read.

• Have a special place where books are kept, which is within your child's reach.

• Read with enthusiasm, use silly voices for different characters.

• Make print visible to your child. Even if it is a shopping list, recipe, or E-mail.

• Help your child find books that are of an interesting topic to her.

• Take trips to the library (when it is safe to do so).

• For children with short attention spans, keep it short, but read more often.

• Swap books with friends and family (when it is safe to do so).