Voyage through the universe

Encourage your child to read:

by Shanika Sriyananda

"Poor and deprived of many things in life, the two brothers survived with the meagre daily wage that their mother earned as a domestic aide. Their mother who knew the value of books, thought that 'there will be a future for my boys if I can introduce them to books.

And so she virtually dragged them to the nearest library'.

"Later the brothers came to know that their mother was illiterate. They were amazed and remembered how she made them write reports about the books that she borrowed from the library. She was not able to read the reports written by them, but without showing her ignorance, she encouraged her boys to write more".

Thus ends the story of the two readers. In an era where the infamous 'idiot box' (ib) has killed the pleasures of reading, many young parents, who run a rat race with busy schedules are also ignorant about the value of reading thanks to the same 'ib', which keeps their lives going with round the clock tele-dramas.

"Why is reading important to your child today?" retired English teacher and former Teacher Trainer at the Maharagama Teacher Training School and now the Head of the English Department of a leading International school Marini Fernando questions, and gives the answer "because it is a good exercise to the mind. Like the body, the mind needs exercise too.

When you read something you visualize it. Then your brain begins to function. It's a ship. Children should enjoy being on this ship", she explains adding that the books ('the ship') will take the children to lands in far places.

"If you get on to this ship you can go anywhere in this world. It is the writing that takes you there. People know about the world not only by travelling; they know so much about the world by reading.

On the other hand she says that books are the best friends of children. Avid readers know what this is. Your books become your friends. I still have my best friends, the books that I have read as a child. Teach your children to love their books.

Whenever they go on trips they should take a book with them. I am talking about reading for joy or reading for the love of it. There is a difference between reading for examinations and reading for joy".

According to Fernando, the parents have a role to play by cultivating reading habits among their children. She says that 'reading to your child should start as soon as possible', if the parents want their children to do well at school, become good decision makers and be capable personalities. "Stable reading habits start at home.

Seeing you read, seeing books around, having books and reading materials easily at hand, your child will grow in an environment which encourages his or her reading habits. The most important thing is that you should read aloud to your child.

It is very sad sometimes, the way some parents interpret this message. After one seminar, which I held for parents of grade one students on developing their reading habits, some parents had sent their children to a class to improve their reading skills.

They have got somebody else to read for their children. I felt very sad. It is of great importance that the parents should read to their child", she says because this will strengthen the relationship between children and their parents.

She says that many parents with busy schedules often complain that they lack time to be with their children. But everybody has 24-hours. It's a case of giving priority. If we have time to watch a cricket match, the favourite tele drama or go shopping, why not keep a few minutes for the children and reading.

Remember, in 25- years time your child will no longer be a child. One year of a child's life is a long span and lots of changes are taking place. So if you miss it now, you will miss it for life".

Fernando says that reading books will bring miracles to children's lives and they will experience the joy and fun of reading together. When you do it on a daily basis it will help improve the child's ability in reading, writing, speaking, listening and imagining.

According to her, reading aloud is important for value development and it is a pleasant way of teaching what is right and wrong than preaching. She also explains that, the reading habit will develop their communication skills too. By talking about lessons learnt from the stories you read, you will help them learn lessons which are useful to them in their day to day lives.

"There is no language without literature. Sometimes we think that if we know the grammar we know all the parts of the language. Do we? I do not think so. Because the beauty of any language is it's literature.

If you do not read literature whether it is English, Sinhala or Tamil, we do not know that language as a whole. That's why avid readers have no problems with their grammar. This is my experience. I never had any problems with grammar or spelling, because I have seen all of them in the novels and books that I have read.

"What I have observed is that avid readers always know much more than the others. Why? Because they have a way of collecting information and adding them into the language. They can judge something very early.

They will have strong personalities with wide perspectives. They assimilate different opinions and ideas and they are much more open in their own judgements. This is very important for the development of personality as well.

Fernando complains that today's children lack role models in their lives. When you read, you become the role models and your child will proudly imitate you. That's what happened in my home.

My role model is my father, who used to read lots of books and then I become the role model for my son and my son is now the role model for my little granddaughter who is two years old. Now she has her favourite book with her goes because her father carries a book with him. When I ask my students if they have seen their parents read it is sad to say that only one or two will say 'yes'.

Most are surprised, she says adding that reading aloud to your child cultivates in the young person the ability to concentrate, think clearly, listen and pay attention. Fernando advices the parents to start reading to the children with a simple story book; one which the child enjoys and fits the child's age.

"Sit in a corner, where it is comfortable away from distractions of the TV and radio and other members of the family. "My message for parents is read with your child and read to your child aloud at least ten minutes every day".

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