‘You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold
Richer than I you can never be
I had a mother who read to me’ ― Strickland Gillilan
Some of the most beautiful memories of childhood are created when parents participate in their children’s learning process. When mothers handle the natural curiosity of their children with patience and help them build-up their understanding of their environment and the things and people in it, they lay the foundation of a deep bonding with their children. It is a nurturing experience for both the mother and the child.
What more, children start associating learning with happy times. Children who have their mothers read to them, almost never need to be forced to read.
To begin with, this supports a child’s social, language skills and vocabulary development. What happens later, if one continues to read to the children, is nothing but magical! Reading becomes their favourite pass-time, and the windows to the world, to life itself, start opening up for them.
The diverse characters that inhabit the books teach them about life and its ways-about people and cultures different from their own and help them understand a range of life events. They learn that every action has consequences that have to be dealt with; they learn the basics of right and wrong, lateral and abstract thinking and also about relationships and life situations.
Compared to the passive and almost always solitary learning experience that the much-hyped electronic media has to offer, book-reading allows them to be taught by life-like characters, give them the time and space to use their creativity and imagination, integrate the learning and become not only smarter but wiser.
Most importantly, book-reading promotes longer attention spans because of the very nature of the activity. Arguably the single-most reason for the attention deficit syndrome in children nowadays is the excessive use of electronic media for learning and entertainment.
About the Author
The author, Sangitaa Sehgall of The Launch Pad, a decade old training company that specializes in customizing training programmes, has introduced an excellent training programme for mothers of children aged 4 years and above. Mothers will be taught how they can participate in the development their children’s early English language skills. For more information and registration, contact Sangitaa Sehgall on +(91)-94904 17053/ 90520 18881.
Discussion about this post