Jolenes Reading Information Blog

Archive for January, 2009

Practically everyone I know of will make at least one new years resolution. I haven’t made one in a few years because I never seem to keep them. One resolutions that I, personally, would like for everyone to make is to read to your children. You just need to carve out 30 minutes a day to read to them. It really doesn’t matter what you read. You can even read the back of the cereal boxes so long as you do it everyday. Even newborns love to hear the sound of their parents voices. My oldest son is expected a baby real soon and I have always encourage him to read to his 3-year old step-son. He doesn’t like to read as much as the rest of us but you have to think of the children. Even if he would just read the sports section of the newspaper to him he will learn more and more everyday that he does it. We have bought little books with lots of pictures that only take a few minutes to sit down quietly and read to him. And with the new baby coming he needs the practice.

My oldest daughter likes to read and reads to her daughter almost everyday. Now my 3-year old grand-daughter will repeat the story to us after we read each book. Granted, we have to read the same story almost every day until she gets tired of it but she is learning a little more each time we read her favorite stories. We pick up books from the “Dollar Stores”, at used bookstores and yard sales. Most children need to be able to see the pictures and words together to learn quickly. You also want to encourage your young ones to learn more than one language. You may only speak one language but there are more and more cartoons and daily TV shows on the Disney Channel and public television stations that teach children how to say and spell words in two languages. I have read several medical studies that state that children between the ages of 3 to 6 can learn to be bi-lingual more quickly during these years and retain more in adulthood if this practice is encouraged. Who knows you might even start to learn another language. And in these trying times we all need an edge in our work to keep our jobs and get promotions.

If you start them young and keep up with the encouragement as well as letting them see you read your children will be better prepared for school and be more willing to learn new things as they present themselves. This is true of us older people as well. We have to keep our brains active and I have read some studies that say that keeping an active mind may help stave off alzheimers. This may or may not be true but what could it hurt? My grandmother is in her late 80’s and still reads books, goes to church and visits others who don’t have anyone. She may not be as spry as she once was but she keeps active as much as she is able. I still can’t get her to use a computer so the eBooks are probably out but she does go to the library every two weeks.

One of my favorite authors is Nora Roberts. She has written and published over 100 books and even her older books are being republished. She is one author that I like to read her stories over and over again. Everyone in our family who likes to read reads her books. I think we have her entire collection. We check her website regularly and can’t wait until the next book comes out. Some of her books are even being turned into TV movies. Now if you can find an author(s) that you like we would encourage you to read them out loud to your children. Granted, you may need to edit out the “love scenes” and any scene that is not appropriate for your child’s age group but there is no law that says you can’t paraphrase through some of those parts. When telling your children the story you don’t have to tell it word-for-word just the story itself. The point is to have the children see you reading, read to them on a regular basis, and encourage them to tell you stories as well!