theSun, Tue, 22 Feb 2011
I would like to share here some of the things I did as a parent, and a few ideas that I think might help a child get interested in books and find reading fun.
As one of my personal interests is reading, I love visiting bookstores (and would love it more if I could buy all the books I want!). Like everything else, it is good to model what we want to instil in our children.
Take your children along and show them the books in the children’s section and let them choose the books they want.
Be flexible where their choice of books is concerned. Try not to dictate what they should read, even if they choose Angelina Ballerina instead of All About Insects for instance.
Allow your children to read books that they like, even if it is the umpteenth animal story. If that’s what they want, it’s all right, as long as the contents are appropriate.
Make reading with your children part of your daily routine. I used to read to my child during the day and at bedtime as well. Now that she knows how to read on her own, she reads and re-reads many of her books, comics, and magazines.
When your children have begun learning how to read, encourage and provide them with lots of opportunities to build their newfound skill in a fun and relaxed way. Avoid turning the activity into a chore.
As children have a shorter attention span, limit reading time to between 15 and 20 minutes. It is not a must to finish the entire story in one sitting. With some children, you may not even get to finish one sentence on a page.
Babies simply love to hear your voice, look at the pictures, or turn the pages rather than wanting to know why Jack climbed the beanstalk.
Toddlers may ask lots of ‘why’, ‘where’, ‘what’, ‘when’ and ‘how’ questions while older children may want to discuss certain parts of the book in greater depth.
Reading does not have to be limited to books alone. For example, while on a car journey, look out for billboards and turn reading them into a game, or get some audio books for them to listen to.
While grocery shopping, ask them to help read your shopping list, the signboards indicating the product categories or words on the food packaging.
Show them interesting and child-appropriate pictures or comics from newspapers or magazines and read the captions together.
Get together with other family members for a fun reading-aloud session. Take turns to read, change your voices to suit the characters in the story, and make sound effects for the story to come alive.
You may even go a step further and get simple props to role-play the story after you have read it. Play ‘what if’ and create your own sequel to the story you had just read.
When activities become fun and the children feel involved, they would become more and more interested.
One thing I learnt in my parenting journey is that a child’s interest in something is easier to develop and sustain when there is some variety and fun involved.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Netting the benefits
The internet is a useful tool and repository of information for our parenting needs if used wisely
theSun, Tue, 08 Feb 2011
With the arrival of the internet, everything is now at our fingertips. We can read newspapers, books, watch television programmes or movies, or listen to the radio through it.
There is also lot of information we can get by just doing a simple search online when we need ideas, tips and advice on anything and everything. This is especially helpful as we go on our parenting journey.
There are forums and social networking groups we can join too to share our parenting experiences, discuss opinions or get advice from fellow parents and experts.
We must, of course, be very careful when choosing the sites we get our information from, and when we sign up as a member of a networking site or forum.
While there are many websites out there that are genuine in their intentions to help parents, there are also those that are out there with bad intentions.
Many a time, when I run out of ideas on how to occupy my child without using the television as babysitter, I turn to the internet.
Many cartoons, movies or characters on television have websites which include interactive activities or games featuring them. These are good alternatives to one-way, passive viewing of the animated version on television.
Parenting websites and those focused on child education have sections with learning games and activities for reading, math, art and craft, or science projects.
There are also longer-term projects through the Net you could get your child involved in. For instance, older schoolgoing children can be encouraged to write poems, songs, stories or blog.
There are websites that provide guides and attractive resources such as suggested storylines and colourful pictures for your child to develop his writing skills.
For a fee, some also offer a publishing service where your child’s writings can be made into a book as a keepsake or gift to loved ones.
Just as how we take precautions when we go online ourselves, be mindful also of your child’s safety and privacy when you allow him to use the internet.
If he wishes to blog, help him to set it up with all the necessary privacy settings to prevent strangers from contacting or finding out about him and his activities.
When your child is online, remember to supervise his activities to ensure he does not intentionally or unintentionally visit sites that are unsuitable for children.
Never leave a child to use the internet alone. Install blockers or monitoring software on your computer to prevent them from entering sites not meant for children.
If you feel uncomfortable allowing your child to use the internet for educational and fun activities or to write, keep a blog, or show any long-term presence online, you could still use the ideas, information and resources from it and adapt them to suit your needs.
Many of the activities are printable as well so this allows you to convert the online version for use in the traditional pencil and paper way.
With the internet, parents are certainly not lacking when it comes to parenting information, albeit an overload at times, but we still need to exercise our wisdom and discretion when applying the knowledge for ourselves and our children.
theSun, Tue, 08 Feb 2011
With the arrival of the internet, everything is now at our fingertips. We can read newspapers, books, watch television programmes or movies, or listen to the radio through it.
There is also lot of information we can get by just doing a simple search online when we need ideas, tips and advice on anything and everything. This is especially helpful as we go on our parenting journey.
There are forums and social networking groups we can join too to share our parenting experiences, discuss opinions or get advice from fellow parents and experts.
We must, of course, be very careful when choosing the sites we get our information from, and when we sign up as a member of a networking site or forum.
While there are many websites out there that are genuine in their intentions to help parents, there are also those that are out there with bad intentions.
Many a time, when I run out of ideas on how to occupy my child without using the television as babysitter, I turn to the internet.
Many cartoons, movies or characters on television have websites which include interactive activities or games featuring them. These are good alternatives to one-way, passive viewing of the animated version on television.
Parenting websites and those focused on child education have sections with learning games and activities for reading, math, art and craft, or science projects.
There are also longer-term projects through the Net you could get your child involved in. For instance, older schoolgoing children can be encouraged to write poems, songs, stories or blog.
There are websites that provide guides and attractive resources such as suggested storylines and colourful pictures for your child to develop his writing skills.
For a fee, some also offer a publishing service where your child’s writings can be made into a book as a keepsake or gift to loved ones.
Just as how we take precautions when we go online ourselves, be mindful also of your child’s safety and privacy when you allow him to use the internet.
If he wishes to blog, help him to set it up with all the necessary privacy settings to prevent strangers from contacting or finding out about him and his activities.
When your child is online, remember to supervise his activities to ensure he does not intentionally or unintentionally visit sites that are unsuitable for children.
Never leave a child to use the internet alone. Install blockers or monitoring software on your computer to prevent them from entering sites not meant for children.
If you feel uncomfortable allowing your child to use the internet for educational and fun activities or to write, keep a blog, or show any long-term presence online, you could still use the ideas, information and resources from it and adapt them to suit your needs.
Many of the activities are printable as well so this allows you to convert the online version for use in the traditional pencil and paper way.
With the internet, parents are certainly not lacking when it comes to parenting information, albeit an overload at times, but we still need to exercise our wisdom and discretion when applying the knowledge for ourselves and our children.
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