Reading is Important

By Jaisey
I think that one of the most important things we can do for our children is read to them. When parents read to their children at a young age, it helps to instill a life long love of reading. By reading to our young children, we are also helping to improve their little vocabularies and thus working their minds. It is encouraged that we read to our little ones at least fifteen minutes a day. California-bases Shae Homes is sponsoring an initiative to help parents do just that. "Setting aside 15 minutes a day is a very manageable time commitment for any parent or caregiver and the potential impact to our nation's future is phenomenal," (Pisetsky). Most days, we get this done not a problem, but there are a few days here and there that I don’t read to them at all. I’m trying to eliminate those days all together though.

I used to read this animal book to my boys. After each animal, I would ask them what that animal said. Having done this over and over again, the kids learned it. You can imagine my surprise when I walked around the corner into the dining room about a week ago and found Adin reading it to Arin. Adin will turn to an animal, look at it and say, “Pig, what’s a pig say Arin?” “Oink, oink” Arin will reply! Then Adin will tell his brother, “Good job Arin.” It just amazes me that by reading a book to my kids a bunch of time, I have helped my older son become a teacher to his younger brother. And not only that, but Adin is providing positive feedback and congratulations to the baby. Who knew that one could accomplish all that just by reading to your kids?!
Here is the video of Adin “reading” to Arin…
 

5 comments so far.

  1. Dr. Bob Banter October 30, 2007 at 3:03 PM
    Well, since you reviewed my last post, I decided that I should return the favor.

    First, let me start by saying very cool video! I need to work something like that into one of my future posts.

    Secondly, I agree with the whole point you made about reading to children. I'm not sure where I would have ended up today if my parents didn't read to me as a kid. I’m absolutely convinced it gave me an advantage in my studies and school work.

    Lastly, I think your post was very well written. I’ve heard the sign of a good writer is the ability to write like people speak. Your post was to the point, had supporting thoughts applicable to the topic and seemed free of any little grammatical or punctuation errors. All in all, a job well done!

    Bob

    P.S. For the record, I wasn’t a chubby kid. However, I think I’m slowly turning into a chubby adult! Maybe I should walk to work more often (lol)!
  2. amberdawn110 October 30, 2007 at 3:22 PM
    I totally agree! I really think that reading to your kids gives them an advantage when it comes time for them to learn to read. I also think that it teaches them to write and speak more articulately and that is a priceless skill. You are such a great mom! Im really enjoying reading your blog!
    Amber
  3. bryon October 31, 2007 at 12:47 PM
    I couldn't agree with you more about reading to our children. I started reading to my daughter "Sammie" right after she was born. Now she is almost two and she knows every letter of the alphabet and her vocabulary is amazing. I have done similiar things to get her to understand animals, I used flash cards and they seemed to work good as well. Also reading to the kids gets them away from the television and puts their little minds to work.
    I liked the video, maybe I will incorporate it into one of my posts in the future. Blog looks really nice.

    respectfully
    Bryon
  4. Julie P.Q. October 31, 2007 at 2:27 PM
    I also agree with the points you make about reading to kids. It seems just intuitive, right? I think you could put even more emphasis on your reading-is-necessary point by showing studies or other data that supports this? For example, who says we should be reading to children 15 minutes a day?
  5. chelsea q November 1, 2007 at 2:31 PM
    I completely agree with you on your views of reading to your children. I am not a parent yet, but I have a five year old brother, Owen, who can play that role. He has just entered into kindergarten this year, and he brings home little books to read everyday. At the beginning of the school year we went to his open house and they said that children do not completely remember words until they have seen it at LEAST three-hundred times. So I can imagine how many times you have read to your children. It is amazing how the young mind works, and when it comes to learning positive feedback is an important thing, as it shows in your video.
    I enjoyed looking at your post it grabbed my attention, and your children are so cute!

Something to say?