Reading to Your Child
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Blackwater > Youth & Adult > Healthy Families > Reading to Your Child
Reading to Your Child
When should I start reading with my child?
- Read with your child from birth! Infants, toddlers, and preschool age children all benefit from interactive reading sessions with their parents.
- By listening to stories, touching the pages, and talking about the characters, children strengthen their brains and make learning easier down the road.
- Believe it or not, reading sessions with your 6-month-old really will help them 10 years later when they face classroom challenges.
How do I make sure I'm doing it right?
- When reading to an infant, don't clam up. Talk about the story and point at images. Allow the child to hold the pages, chew on the binding, and even drool on the print. Not only will this communicate that books bring pleasure, but it will also introduce the physical structure of a book to the baby.
- Ask open-ended questions.
Parent: "Where do you think the cow went after she jumped over the moon?"
- Follow answers with questions.
Child: "She went to the barn!" Parent: "What other animals were in the barn?"
- Repeat what the child says and expand on his/her idea.
Child: "A horsey and a kitty!" Parent: "A horsey and a kitty! I bet they were cosy in the hay."
- Ask "What" questions.
Parent: "What did the cat do with the spoon?"
What books do you recommend?
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