Jj is for Jottings 62.  Raising a Reader Part 2.  Toddlers.

Continuing from the previous article (here), you cannot overestimate the importance of reading with a child at the toddler stage – for intellectual, social and emotional development.  They take in everything: vocabulary and language structure, numbers and math concepts, colours, shapes, opposites and many other language concepts, animals, manners and all kinds of useful information about how the world works. What’s more, when you read out loud, your toddler connects books with the familiar, beloved sound of your voice — and the physical closeness that reading together brings. You are helping build a positive association with books that will last a lifetime, as well as bonding further with your child.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Reading can happen at any time of the day. Bedtime is a favourite time, of course, and a wonderful way to relax your child and prepare for sleep in a warm, secure environment.  Be careful what books you choose if your toddler is active and difficult to settle.  You might gain a little advantage by reading books that have peaceful going to bed scenes at the end.  But read during the day with your toddler as well.  Offering to read a book with your toddler can be a great way of slowing them down and getting them to focus.  Sit close and savour the moment.  It may help if a favourite pet is nearby, too.  (See Reading to Dogs).
• Introduce your own taste. Pull out your old favourites, and see what current children’s books catch your eye.  Some of the old favourites can be quite politically incorrect – racism, sexism etc. – so you can tweak those to improve them.  At this stage your child is too young to catch you out on not reading exactly what was written on the page.
• Respect your child’s preferences. Having said to introduce your own taste, that doesn’t mean to override your child’s preferences, if they express any.  Encourage them to talk about their preferences and cater to those, even if they aren’t your favourite topics.  You’re still likely to have a happy overlap of taste to some degree.
• Create an association with pleasure and reward. If your child doesn’t like some of the voices you put on, don’t use them. It is, after all, the child’s story time.  Try encouraging the child to turn the pages to set the pace (and great for developing fine motor skills, too.  I am amazed at how many early primary children find difficulty in turning the pages of a book.)
• Interruptions from the child are fine. Unless they are right off the topic, comments from the child about the story or pictures indicates that they are engaged, and this is just what we want.  I’m inclined to go for a first reading with relatively few interruptions so the story line is not lost; and then go through a second time and have the child tell the story using the pictures, or ask the child questions about the story or pictures etc.  Don’t make it a chore by pushing them to respond, just make it a pleasant shared conversation about the story.
• Expand your toddler’s world. Some youngsters get stuck on a particular book and choose nothing else.  While still reading the book when requested, try to steer away by adding other books on other topics.  This is a great opportunity to broaden their world beyond their personal experiences.
• Choose diverse books. Children like to hear about children just like themselves, but at the same time it is a wonderful opportunity to introduce them to diversity of culture and ethnicity.  I suspect that, by introducing learning about other cultures at an early age, children develop a more tolerant attitude to those who are in any way different from themselves.
  

  Reading with Daddy.  (Some rights reserved by madgerly)

 

Depending on the child’s level of development, this can be a good time to start reading “Aa is for Alpacas”.  There is plenty to talk about, both within the child’s experience and outside of it, and you can still be saying the sounds correctly and pointing to the letters as you say them, even if the child is not showing any signs of interest in the words on the page at that stage.  It can’t do any harm if they’re not ready, and it may well be preparing them for that next step into interest in written words.