Sharing Books and Reading With Your Children

Reading books to small children, especially at night, will ensure that they sleep peacefully. During the daytime, sharing and reading books to your children is an activity in which the child not only learns new words but also learns to relate it to real life. For example, after learning about a dog in the book, a child might utter the words "bow-wow", the minute he or she sees a dog in real life.

So, not only are the children entertained while you read them a book, but the information within the book is also transferred into their tiny minds. You should start with picture books and slowly move on to storybooks. Ask your children questions about the characters to interact with them, instead of just reading to them. By reading to them aloud, the children will also grab the correct phonetics to pronounce words. Once the children get older, you can also have them read to you. This will give you an idea of their grasping power and whether they are using the correct expressions while narrating the story. You can also induce your little one to drink up that hot glass of milk as you tell him a bedtime story.

You can join your local library to ensure a regular stock of books at your house. You can take your children along and they can decide on which books they want to take home to read. They can also share these books among themselves or with other children. Most children love to watch cartoons, so instead of just banning the TV, regulate the timings they can watch with some time dedicated for book reading and playing. This will ensure that they do not end up as couch potatoes. You can also take your books along with your children when camping or going to the hairdressers or the doctor. Not only will the books keep them engrossed, it will also keep them calm in unfamiliar surroundings.

Later on in life, encourage your children to read good storybooks or novels. Children who start reading early in life have a tendency to carry on reading throughout their life, and the seeds of reading have to be sown by you into their minds. On their birthday, in addition to gifting them their favorite toy, you can also give them some books. You can also keep your interest in reading books alive by reading to them. This will encourage them to sit besides you with their favorite book.

You should, therefore, be a good role model and inspire your children to start reading at a young age. Reading to them when they are young will not only create a lasting warm bond between your children and you, but in later life will also enable them to be better informed adults.

Victor Epand is an expert consultant about books. When shopping for books, we recommend you shop only at the best bookstores for used books and autographed books.