Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Instilling a Love for Books in Your Children


If there is one thing I'm proud of that we've been able to give our children, it is a love of books.  Our house is full of books and we are always reading.  My kids are proof that modeling a specific behavior works.  Thankfully this is a behavior that I definitely want my kids to adopt.  Reading can open your mind and your heart to endless worlds full of ideas and concepts.  The beautiful thing is that all three of my children have adopted this love for reading and books.  As wildy different and unique each of them are, the common theme that we hear about all three of them is that they love to read and have such a passion for it.  Reading aloud to your children from the very beginning of their lives benefits them in so many ways.

Reading aloud to children helps to develop their imaginations and inspire creative play.  Children will often act out stories that they hear and pretend to take on the identity of their favorite characters.  This can help them learn to negotiate different social situations and develop a sense of empathy or compassion.  They learn important problem solving skills from the actions of characters in the books that you read to them.  I love how much I learn about what interests my children when they become particularly animated or excited by a book that we are reading.

Do you read aloud to your children?

comments

7 Responses to "Instilling a Love for Books in Your Children"
  1. Anonymous said...
    February 4, 2010 at 2:42 AM

    I too hope to pass on the love of reading to my son. We, at the very least, read to him before he goes to bed. At school, they read to him at least two-three times a day and we're always reading in front of him at home, if he's playing quietly by himself.

  2. PeasandBananas said...
    February 4, 2010 at 5:46 PM

    Yippie, I am able to comment on your blog now! :o)

    Reading is ever so important. Presently, there is a book fair going on at Lil Boo's school.....he wants to buy books EVERYDAY!!! It's completely insane....

    Proof...you are able to take away his toys as a means of punishment...he'll protest, toss a fit...gets over it.....if you say NO to books....the world has come to an absolute end!! A preschooler Armageddon unleashes its fierce force from the depths beyond mentionables!

    We instilled reading though at a very young age....the day he was born pretty much (well say at least a month old). It's very important and he enjoys it very much.

    I'll stop writing now.....Cheers!

    Peas Out!
    ~daddy b.

  3. Shady Lady said...
    February 4, 2010 at 10:38 PM

    I started reading to Princess when I was pregnant with her. :) Now she reads to me! (Well, I still read to her, too.)

  4. Anonymous said...
    February 5, 2010 at 10:14 AM

    Sadly, although I read to my son from the time he was several months old (Baby Bug magazine) and still read to him today (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows--finally, after books 1-6), provided lots of books and trips to the library with my son, and read for fun myself, my son is just not a reader. He's a great reader, though. It's just not something he considers fun. I thought I did everything right! Maybe there is a genetic predisposition. Others might agree that boys are tougher. He liked the Wimpy Kid series and plowed through those books. If anyone has ideas for a 9-year-old boy, let me know! He does like nonfiction, but that doesn't always work for book report assignments so he does have to read some fiction.

  5. La'Tonya Richardson said...
    February 11, 2010 at 6:44 AM

    I did read to my children. Now that they're all older, 10, 12, 13, 17 and 20. If I even tried to read to the 10 year old she'd melt.

    I've always loved to read, and urged, who am I kidding, put books in their hands, and said read! Now, my oldest, and youngest love to read. My 17 year old son, and 12 year old daughter feel like they read enough for school, and 13 year old daughter... only when it interest her.

    I still buy books, and scowl read!

  6. John Bryan said...
    February 16, 2010 at 4:41 PM

    K Burns, as the Blonde's husband I feel a need to jump in: I noticed that William (9) would rather "read" books with pictures so I got him comic after comic until I found two that he wanted to know more than just the pictures: 1) Calvin and Hobbes (all of them, I even bought the complete set but its too big for any of them to hold) 2) Bone (link to Amazon below), he sat down with it and wouldn't put it away for months and now reads books like wimpy kid as well. I just keep on buying books for him and get more if he doesn't fall for the first one. Just: DON'T GIVE UP! Find what you thinks he likes and don't worry if it doesn't feel like a "real" book, just let him get into the habit of picking them up and trying them.

    http://www.amazon.com/Bone-Complete-Cartoon-Epic-One/dp/188896314X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266367032&sr=1-1

  7. blake said...
    February 18, 2010 at 11:20 PM

    I was always terrible about reading aloud to my kids, but I always was good at getting them to read. My best strategy was to go to the library and get a stack of books I know he'd like. Then I casually dumped them in the backseat with him and told him "don't touch those, they're your brother's".

 

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved Revolution Two Lifestyle theme by Brian Gardner | Blogger template converted & enhanced by eBlog Templates