Start right away to help your child build an excellent brain.
We all know reading with your baby helps to establish and nurture your bond with them, promoting strong emotional connections. Did you also know how it affects your baby's brains? The infant brain stays busy developing functioning communication networks. They are born with 100 billion neurons in their brains, many of which are not yet connected in communication networks. Thus, the richness of experiences that infants have determines how well their brains will expand and build these communication networks to function at a high level throughout their life. Toddlerhood is also a peak time for growth and language understanding. A toddler's brain is 2.5x more active than an adult brain. By age 3, a child's brain has twice as many synaptic connections as that of an adult. Their experiences should be accompanied by rich and varied language environments, including rhymes and verses, and meaningful social interactions with other children and caring adults. Regular occurrence of these valuable experiences from an early age means your children will be set for success in building healthy brains.
Expose your child to as many different kinds of books as you can. Exposure to diverse subject matter and visual styles is essential in finding what your child best responds to on their own. For example, some children may love fanciful cartoon illustrations in books, while others may respond more strongly to photography and real-life images. Both are wonderful tools to expand a child's imagination and also reinforce their role in their family and community, respectively. Over time, you will see what your child responds to the strongest, and you can capitalize on their interests by following their lead. Just remember, a child's interests will change frequently, so continuous exposure to new and different things will help their journey to self-discovery. You never know which new book purchase, or library check-out, will spark their next obsession.
The benefits of structured schedules on young, developing children are well documented. Consistent routines help to provide comfort and to create a reliably safe environment for your child. When they know what activity they are doing and what to expect next, they will feel more secure in their care environment. This also helps to promote emotional stability, which helps them learn to trust that the adults caring for them will provide what they need. Establishing routines early can also help support your child's developing work ethic. They will learn to understand that we all have daily jobs to do, and while their childhood jobs consist of playing, exploring, and learning, knowing that these activities occur in a particular and predictable sequence will help to establish their foundation for structure in life as they mature. As we all know, reading is a huge part of our daily lives. From studying in school to managing our careers and processing vital information, we must all learn early on to welcome and value reading as a part of our day. So make a habit of regularly scheduled story time, and help nurture your child's future success.
Did you know? Story time is recommended twice daily for infants.
Create a comfortable and comforting environment when reading to your child. The association of this comfortable environment will help foster a healthy relationship to reading for your child for years to come. We don't want our children to dread time spent reading, but instead to value that special feeling of "curling up with a good book." So grab pillows, a blanket, and your child's favorite pair of socks, have their beverage and snack ready, set aside the electronic devices, and turn off any background noise for a cozy and calm reading environment.
Don't be self-conscious, play that part! If the story you read involves vibrant characters, assume different voices and styles to help your child better understand the concepts that are presented in the book and the plot of the story. This will not only help to keep your child entertained while being read to, but studies also show that babies respond well to variations in pitch, speed, and tempo in voices from early on. If you suffer from stage fright, don't worry. Your child is your biggest fan. They will love your performance, no matter what you do.
Don't just rush through the reading of the book, pay close attention to what you're reading! If your child sees that you are engaged in what you are reading together, they will want to pay closer attention to it as well. In addition to forming a clear understanding of the words on the page and the concept the story is presenting, pay close attention to the illustrations that are featured on the page. Where is the story set? What kinds of characters are featured on the pages in front of you? Are there birds on the page? How many? Noticing these types of things in your reading will aid you in our next tip below....
From the beginning, to the middle, and through the end, ask your child questions about the reading material.
Young children are bound to have a wandering attention span. This is totally ok! Regular reading is a great way to help your child practice focusing on the activities in front of them. Consider asking questions about what's on the page to engage their attention. From the beginning, to the middle, and through the end, ask your child questions about the reading material. "What do you think will happen next?" "Why do you think [character] is so [happy] or [upset]?" "Look, where are they now?" "How do you think they got there?" "Do you see any animals on the page? Which kinds? How many do you see?" "Did you like this story? Why/why not?" Asking questions like these throughout story time is a wonderful way to spark your child's interest in what they are looking at and keep them focused on the task at hand.
You've gotten them to sit through story time, engaging them in questions about the reading material along the way. You've finally finished the story. Time to move on to the next- "Read it again!"
Sound familiar? Don't worry, young children will often ask you to repeat a reading, or to repeat any activity you engage in with them- out of love for the experience. It is also incredibly rewarding to them to know what to expect next (see tip #3). They feel safe with the feeling that they know what will happen next, and learning that (through repetition) also helps to enhance their recall, their memory skills. When children hear the same story repeated again and again, their recall of newly-introduced vocabulary is usually found to be better than if they are read different stories. Think about it: when we read our favorite novels or binge our favorite series a second or third time, we notice new things in the story that we didn't the first time around. This is because we already know the story well enough to be able to pay close attention to the subtle nuances. So even though that repetition may try your patience from time to time, try to remember: it's in their best interest.
Children love to feel responsible. They feel a sense of pride at being helpful and useful to you, especially if you praise them for their assistance. Let your child take the reins from time to time while reading. Let them turn the pages for you, let them do their impression of their favorite character's voice, and if they're old enough, read the material to you, for a change! If they request a particular title for story time, let that be the book (or ONE of the books!) that you read together. Nurturing their successful decision-making skills will boost their self-confidence.
We all know the glorious feeling of finishing the book you're reading. Even if it's a story you love and you're sad to see end, you still relish in the accomplishment of completing that work of art. Early experiences in reading help to establish a sense of accomplishment for a young child. Knowing that they saw the task through to the end gives them a sense of completeness, and your praise of their efforts in completing their tasks will go a long way in future chores, school responsibilities, and more. Tell them how proud you are of them that they finished story time. They love to know that they've done something great- and, surely we can all agree, reading is great.
