Nurturing the wonderful habit of reading!

In order to make your child’s intellect develop effectively, it is important to make them familiar with books and their reading practices. Mudit Mohini of Vishv Books tells you how to make your children interested in books and nurture the correct habit of reading and drop the wrong ones. All literature of the world is principally born with a human tendency to tell a story, a situation and history for that matter and also to tell a story of oneself, a story about the happenings around and the story of mere existence in this big world. All these tales together with those addressed to children are written to help one grow, develop and understand things in a better and efficient demeanor. Talking in relation to children and their books, we are well aware of the fact that their mind is always searching for something interesting. They’ll be interested in things which appeal to their brains.

For parents of today’s age bracket, being afraid that between video games, social networking, and virtual worlds, there’s no way today for books to compete is apparent. Therefore, it is important that a child should imbibe the habit of reading at the beginning itself. Reading enhances the imaginative powers of the child. However the question here is how one should tell his child to read and in what manner.

Persuading the child to read books: How in the world can anyone convince kids to choose reading – just plain old book reading?

Familiarize them with the book: A child can consider a book as friend or a foe. Generally parents thrust the books on their child by telling them that they should read a book. But book reading should not be a compulsion. If a toddler is given a book everyday just like that then he consider that book like any other toy. He tries to glance through it trying to understand the meaning. He/she should be left alone with that toy. Now the book is his/her friend. As they grow we should start having designated time in which we read out a story to them. As parents are getting busier, the child appreciates the book reading time and consider it as a time spend with their parents. So they attach a positive memory with book reading. Thus they know if they want some time with their parent, they would ask them to read the book. Now book has become their best friend. Like a famous quote by Winston S Churchill “If you cannot read them, any rate...fondle them. Peer into them...let them fall open where they will,...Set them back on the shelf with your own hands...If they cannot be your friends, let them at any rate be your acquaintances.”

Understanding the child’s interest: In the world of social networking, child does or wants what they like. We should try and find the interest of the child and find the books related to that. It is easier for children to read materials that interest them. As a matter of fact, if a child doesn’t like animals, it is almost impossible to get him to make any sense of the article on animals. So the best way to start him on his literary journey is to find his interest, and once he has developed his interest of reading, he’ll become more interested in different areas. By then, he would have acquired a reading skill that will help him understand what he is reading.

Setting an example: If the child grows up in the house full of books there are more chances of being a book lover. Therefore the parents will have to set an example for them. They should be reading everyday so as the child also follows you.

Make it a fun & never ending experience! Books have power to transport you to a magical world or hard-hitting reality with just some black and white words. And it has been proved again and again that children who read books have more fertile mind and thus perform better than their counterparts.

As they say “Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.” Books are and always remain man’s best friend. The way they are read can change but their importance will never diminish.