As a child, when you were growing up, do you remember the big books with the lovely colorful pictures, like a big ball or a red apple? I do. Over the years, researchers in child development have come to the conclusion that the first few years in a child's life, between 1 to 5 years old, are very intellectually formative years.
These are the years where their desire to learn and become good learners is founded and paved. Their imagination, curiosity and hunger to learn are fed with colors, pictures, and sounds, and this enables them to grasp things more quickly. From pictures, they go on to 3 letter words, then to short stories and later on to books.
Years back, when we were young, children went to school at age 5, but today they go to school as young as 1.5yrs. Why? Because we have realized that these years lay the foundation for good language and communicational skills in later years. What starts off as a simple bedtime story, later translates into that same child wanting to read the book that the parents have been reading.
Parents need to encourage their children from a very young age, as it also builds up confidence in themselves. Observe how proud they feel when they learn how to read. Even in the field of phonetics, which becomes important as they are growing up to identify alphabets and their sounds, it is that regular reading habit that introduces them to the world of sound. Children are able to grasp words even better and learn to read even faster, when their phonetics are
good.
Along with books, try new and innovative techniques like using visuals and headphones, as this can get them very excited. Make it exciting, challenging, and yet fun, for your kids. It has to be like a game that they are playing. Fun!
Children have brains that are very sponge-like, they tend to observe things around them and absorb the same very quickly. If they are surrounded by books from an early age, instead of the idiot box, they improve on many other skills, which may not be very noticeable when they are small. But when they start growing up, you realize that their motor skills, verbal skills and their way of expressing themselves get better and better. Books act like inspirational bricks, in building an intelligent human being.
All parents must be very particular about introducing their children to the world of books. This is when they realize that they could not have given their children any greater gift. And when their kids are grown up, they will be very grateful to their parents for introducing them to the world of books.
Victor Epand is an expert consultant about books. When shopping for books, we recommend you shop only at the best bookstores for used books, autographed books, and vedic books.
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