ZERO TO FIVE IN 60 SECONDS
Quick tips for parents of young children
By MARK SULLIVAN, Executive Director, Michigan 4C Association
Q: I want my child to be a good reader, so I am going to start reading to him, but when? He’s less than a year old, and he’d just as soon chew on the book as look at it.
A: It’s true the expression "eat your words" has an entirely different meaning when it applies to babies and books. There is a reason why board or cloth books have non-toxic inks!
Those books often don’t even have words, just pictures. They are built to be explored by your child, and used by a parent to establish a caring interaction that can grow through the years. Start with an infant by holding him in your lap with the book in front of both of you. The closeness and sharing are critical for emotional as well as intellectual growth of your child. If you can adjust him to one side so you can occasionally look at each other, or the book, even better. Parent to child "face time" is very important.
Using a sturdy picture book, talk about each page or picture. Talk about such things as, "What is this? What is it doing? What color is it? How does it feel?" A sentence or two is fine. You will be doing this over and over again with a few favorite books, so there’s no need to overdo it each time. Let your child handle the book as he is able to. A child is not "bad" because he tries to explore the book with his mouth. That’s natural for an infant. Think of it as "getting a taste for books." Gently remove it and move on when that happens. Reading this way creates a pattern of associations between a comfortable and secure experience with a caring adult and representations in print and language.
Reading with a slightly older child gives you a chance to build "phonemic awareness." Hearing comes before talking, so even before a toddler has started making words (that you can understand) the child is hearing all that you say and creates associations between sounds and meanings. Rhymes or repeating letter sounds give the child chances to hear word differences, see how you make the sounds and enjoy the attention.
Stop from time to time while reading to an older toddler and start asking "what do you think" questions. They are better than "name this" questions because they encourage self-expression and practice in using language. The answers may surprise and amuse you. At this stage, good expression is more important than "right" answers to questions such as, "what color is it?"
When reading to a pre-schooler you can start making closer associations between words on the page and spoken language. Reading the same books over and over again may wear you out, but repeating phrases he’s memorized as he looks at the page is good practice for your child. Continue your conversation by encouraging him to make up new parts of the story to go along with what he hears and sees. This is what we mean when we say reading is a "three-way" street. It’s a place where three people meet to exchange ideas - the author, you and your child.