Reading is such a powerful tool. As a teacher I know that, but as a parent I have learned how and why it is so important to read to and with your child. For the longest time Olivia hated books which broke my little teacher heart. As a teacher I want her to LOVE reading. But sooner or later Olivia started loving books.
My friend Cathy and I had a discussion about this a few weeks ago. When do you know your child is reading? In the milestones for babies one of the first things doctors or developmental specialists want to see is if a baby turns pages. That is the first step in reading. From there the possibilities are endless from the parent perspective. What you do as a parent while holding that book with your child is endless. Pointing out letters, words, pictures, when they are ready- pointing out punctuation, having them follow along with a finger etc., etc, etc, it is endless!
Here is what Olivia started doing. Usually Olivia will bring us books and say, "Mommy read!" or "Daddy read!" There are some books that are more popular which get read multiple times a day. Last Thursday I picked up the seasonal Karen Katz book title, "Where is Baby's Valentine?" It is a question-answer style of book (very similar to all the others we have of hers). But Olivia first picked up the word valentine. Now we have read it multiple times since buying it, but now I have started leaving out words which she fills in. She is not "reading" the letters but she is recalling them from her memory and making a connection to the picture which is a reading skill. Once children understand that groups of letters put together make words and the words relate to the picture...wowie...reading takes off.
Now tonight I told her to read to me. From her memory of hearing the book (several times) and looking at the pictures she basically read the story. Not word for word, but words that she remembers from the page connected with the picture. I LOVED it! I loved the part when she even remembered to say "Yum, Yum!" about the box of chocolates.
But it showed me how powerful reading is and how we need to continue to foster that love of reading with her. Brendon loves to read and I love to read also so hopefully Olivia will love reading too!
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