Question
from Love
to Read
Dear Ms. Mimi,
I’m not a big
reader. It just wasn’t my thing growing
up, but I want my son to enjoy it. What
can I do to help foster this love for reading in him that I didn’t have growing
up?
Dear
Love to Read,
Oh,
what a lovely question! Reading is a
fabulous way to incorporate language learning into the lives of your little
ones. Children are curious and full of wonderment, and they are constantly
seeking stimulation to fuel their rapidly growing minds. Maria Montessori
calls it the Absorbent Mind.
Within
the first few years of a child’s life including birth, they are actually mini
geniuses. Their minds have the capacity
to take in new information and process it without effort! Have you ever said something out of habit and
the next thing you know your child repeats it the exact same way you said
it? Yes, this is the absorbent mind in
full swing and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it!
That’s
where reading
comes into play. Reading is essential in building communication and introducing
language. It promotes and helps build listening, memory, and vocabulary skills
and while infants may not understand the words, they are able to intake your
emotions and expressive sounds which help develop emotional and social
development.
Children
love being with mommy and daddy, by simply setting aside special reading time
to read aloud to your son he will see that reading is fun, and begin to make
the connections between what he loves - you, your voice, and your closeness- to
books.
Here
are a few guidelines to make the process picture perfect:
- Keep
it Short: Infants have short attention spans so reading for 10 -15 minutes
once or twice a day is good.
-
Book Choices: Pick books that you
enjoy to read that is appropriate for their age. By doing so you will be more
animated and bring more emotion into the story for your child. Also choose board books or fabric books as
they will want to nibble on them. "It's
okay if they eat the pages," says Dr. Remer-Altman. This is their way of
exploring. Soon they will learn to point as they make out familiar images.
-
Repetition: By reading the same book
over and over, the child will begin to know when to show certain emotions based
on the inflections of your voice.
-
Follow the Child: You will start to
see your child evolve in his reading abilities. By seven to nine months your
child will begin to copy you and turn multiple pages at a time. By 1 year, your child will be more advanced
and start turning single pages. He’ll also stop using it as a teething-ring
which is a great time to start introducing paper books.
All
children seek stimulation and reading is a great way to help satisfy their
hungry minds while still sharing the closeness they love so much with you. But
I will warn you, they may end-up turning YOU onto reading. Who would have
thought?
Ms
Mimi Ha
Infant
Montessori Lead teacher
Mimi
Ha, winner of the 2013 Milpitas Post Best Teacher of the Year and Best Infant Program awards, has
been working with young children for nearly a decade. She has a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in
Communicative Disorders and Sciences, Degree in Sociology and Liberal Arts. Ms. Mimi worked with
various leading non-profit organizations that support children with Autism. Ms.
Mimi Ha believes that children are the key to a brighter world and through them
we can learn a great deal about ourselves.