Friday, April 10, 2015

Reading Aloud: The EASIEST way to 'Talk' to your child!

The whole world tells you to talk to your child as much as possible. For e.g. don't just say "this flower is so pretty!" but describe it as much as possible. I personally think that's rubbish! We walk down the road every single day and I'd be completely mad if I had to describe flowers to him every day! I love silences. I love it that when we walk down from school and pass by the park we don't have to chit chat, don't have any agenda, don't have "do" anything. Just relax and soak up nature!

We DO need to talk to children though, but have you wondered WHAT is it that people talk about? Do you feel perplexed and out of material to talk to children? They can't talk much about what happened in school and you can't talk politics or game of thrones, then what?

There are two things I do. First answer each and every question of his, properly and immediately. All the whats, whys and hows. I LOVE his curiosity and sometimes have to take a moment to articulate a response without dumbing it down. Secondly, read him books!


Reading Aloud: The EASIEST way to 'Talk' to your child!


I love reading aloud to my 3 year old. Not only is it therapeutic and educative, it's the simplest activity to do! No running around in the sun, or cleaning up paint, just tuck ourselves in sheets and read! AND there it is, right there! Enough material to talk about!

We snuggle up in bed and read around 6-10 books every evening for at least half hour before bedtime. Although it's technically before bedtime, there is NO intention to put him to sleep with the reading! So it's as interactive as possible. Calling attention to letters, letter sounds, sight words such as 'the' and 'and', counting syllables esp with Looong words such as dinosaur names, and calling attention to rhyming words, what happens next, etc. I bring them all on.

Kids soak up what is told to them like a dry thirsty sponge, i.e. IF taught in an interesting way. If it weren't for Oliver Jeffers' 'Stuck' where else would I have got the cool opportunity to teach him that 'unstuck' is the opposite of stuck? If it weren't for Eric Carle's 'The Tiny Seed' how would I have taught him seasons and it's effect on life cycle of plants?

'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' & 'Three Billy Goats Gruff' introduced him to large, medium and small. Hot, cold and just right! 'The Bus Driver' introduced him to counting backwards. 'Color Color Kamini' to chameleons changing colors to hide themselves in the forests. 'The Magic Rolling Pin' introduced him to the Festival of Baisakhi.

Dr Suess' ABC book taught him phonics, The Prince of Potty helped him potty train!

I cannot fathom teaching him the concept of flying reindeers and Santa coming down the chimney without his Christmas books.

It becomes easy to convince him to do something based on his books esp favorite characters. For eg if he left my hand while walking on a busy street, I don't just reprimand, but remind him of how Topsy and Tim hold mummy's hands in their 'Safety First' book. Or if he refuses to brush, I remind him what the dentist told Topsy and Tim that not brushing will cause small holes in teeth, which will become big holes which in turn will cause toothaches!

It's fun when HE does the referencing, like the first time he screamed Goal! When he saw football on TV after reading Topsy and Tim's Football book

It's safe to assume that I am raising a reader, his language skills as well as cognitive skills are improving too. But the best part of reading is that it's the easiest way to connect with him! 

I simply cannot imagine being a parent without books! And I wonder how life would have been without them! Imagine going to bed without stories in your head! Or having nothing to talk about with your child! Except perhaps for a loony "look at this couch! It is red, rectangular, and made of wood. We bought it before you were born and is still comfortable to sit on every day!" 


Until later! Stay in touch!



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29 comments:

  1. Absolutely - which is why reading is so important to make time for when they are little, and as they grow too. My kids are 9 and 7 and we still read to them before they go to bed. They get rather upset when clubs mean we sometimes don't have time too, so thankfully they still lvoe it! Thanks so much for linking up to the Parenting Pin it Party on our 100th birthday :-)

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    1. once it was late and i told him 'no reading only sleeping' and he was like 'but i CANT sleep without reading mama! so i always make it a point to read at least one book!

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  2. I do agree books are great for talking - but we do talk about politics with the election coming up lol. My youngest is coming up 6 now though.

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  3. Yes! Read, read, read! I love reading aloud to my 7 year old and loves it too! He has moved past Dr. Suess or Goldilocks and the Three Bears. But he still loves for me to read out loud books like The Hobbit, The Never Ending Story, ect. Thanks for sharing on #mommymondaybloghop

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    1. I'm dyiiiiiiing to read him the hobbit etc! i've clung on to my copy saying its for him!

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  4. Reading books to your child is the perfect answer! Especially a great tip for new moms and dads that are unsure how to talk to their new baby.

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  5. Wow, that's a good long time for reading. 2 books tends to be my limit although we do tend to chat about his day and bedtime is when I get all the interesting questions. He never tells me anything straight after nursery. But it's definitely a great time for learning and learning from books - N asks questions during the day, and then gets out his pop up reference books - he's learnt more about rain and clouds from those, and the other day he wanted to read through the whole of his pop up world & countries book. I'm hoping he'll be a geographer like me!
    #pinitparty

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    1. geographer , wow! yes its a loooo..ong time for reading, i try to get away with only a few most times. Yeah kids esp at 3 dont really know how to respond to open-ended questions such as how as school? right after school & although they are *very* chatty, We gotta do some probing by using specifics!

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  6. This is the best way to talk to children and teach them about all sorts of things. They're never too young for books and making them as interactive as possible really brings them alive.
    #pinitparty

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    1. i started when he was 9 months old, his first was baby donald goes to playland, i used to read it to him with highly animated sound effects!

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  7. It's a great suggestion. We read and talk about the book content but I still wasn't aware of how many things I can teach my 22 months old using her baby books.
    Thank you. :)

    twopluscute.com/

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    1. Yes, you never know what strikes a cord and what sticks!

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  8. I read aloud to my kids for years and now do the same with the grandchildren. They still talk about the books we read..

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    1. thats so nice. i just left two books at his grandparents place, so they can read to him when he's there :)

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  9. I'm a firm believer on reading to children before bedtime. It's not only relaxing before going to bed but as my children get older it brings about good reading habits. Thank you for sharing with the Clever Chicks Blog Hop! I hope you’ll join us again next week!

    Cheers,
    Kathy Shea Mormino
    The Chicken Chick
    http://www.The-Chicken-Chick.com

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    1. Yes, it sets an inner discipline. Thanks for stopping by Kathy!

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  10. Yes, that's the best way! We are so happy you linked up with us at Thursday Favorite Things.

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  11. A great article! Reading aloud is so important!

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  12. So true! We do a lot of talking while reading! Thanks for linking up at the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop! We hope you stop by again next week!

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  13. So true! We do a lot of talking while reading! Thanks for linking up at the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop! We hope you stop by again next week!

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  14. Reading aloud to a child is a wonderful thing to do! I love dreading to my children when they were young. There was one book that I read to my youngest daughter so many times that she could retell the story word for word. Thanks for sharing with SYC.
    hugs,
    Jann

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  15. Great posts! Some of my favorite memories of my childhood are of my mom reading aloud to me :) Thanks so much for taking the time to link up over at the #HomeMattersParty - we hope to see you again this Friday! Feel free to bring a friend :)

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