You’re looking for some activities to stimulate your child’s growth and development.  One of the first things we did as parents, even before our children were born, was read to them.  My husband and I love to read and we wanted to instill that love to our children as well because it was such a vital factor for our own success.  Here are 4 tips you can use when getting your own children to love reading.

Tip #1 : Read Out Loud

When I was pregnant with our first child twenty some years ago, I searched and read a lot of books about how to raise a smart and happy child.  I wanted to find out what is developing in his/her little life of his/her first 12 months, the second year, the third year and so on. What I found out was that in every book I read they suggested reading out loud.  When you communicate what you are reading audibly the vibrations, thoughts and words get into the air and create an environment for exploration.  You should start even before the child is born because the environment you create for the child is extremely important to how well and how quickly they develop.

Tip #2 : Start Reading Early

There is no such thing as too early to read to the child. In fact I discovered the earlier the better. So we read to our unborn children whatever book we had on our hand – you wouldn’t believe what we read to our kids!  We read our children books on science, anatomy, bones and even medical text books (my husband was starting medical school).  So he would read them out loud, even while he studied!  What you read to your child gets embedded into their subconscious mind for their life.

Just as important as what you read to your child, is how you read it to them.  The tone of your voice, emotion and expression used all have an impact on the child’s development.  Most of all they will learn to love reading at an early age, which will stick with them throughout their lives. Granted, not every child will love to read. So, as a parent we need to make reading fun and not boring and especially never using it as a punishment.

Tip #3 : Make Reading Fun

When they are young, they would do anything for you as long as it is enjoyable and fun and interesting. They depend on you to guide and teach them. They don’t know with a little bit of mom’s creativity, they develop their own creativities that last a life time through reading!

My daughter wrote short stories when she was in elementary school. She loves to read and write, even now. Whenever and wherever we go for vacation, we always look for the closest library for books. But as they get older they bring their own books.   We have tons of great children’s books that will help you find fun ways to get your children reading too!

Tip #4 : Find a Time and Stick to It

Schedule a set time each day designated just for reading.  We always chose 5PM because I could read to them before dinner and my husband could come home and read to them as well.  Vary what types of books you read to your child, fictional and non-fictional – in addition to medical text books we would also read books on poetry as well as fiction.  One of our favorite fictional books to read our kids was If You Give A Mouse A Cookie.  It’s important to keep a balance with types of books so your kids don’t lose their ability to dream but also have a healthy perspective on reality when they need to apply that dream in the world.

What tools did you use to get your kids reading?  Let us know!  We would like to share them with the rest of our readers if it’s really good!  Thanks for reading “From Mom To Mom” and come back for more tips next week!