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Show Love of reading best gift parents can give children THOMAS R. LEE, Ph.D. Extension Specialist Department of Family and Human Development Utah State University A love of reading is one of the best gifts you could give your children. Here are 10 ways to instill that love. 1. Read aloud regularly. Bedtime is the most popular time, but breakfast -time is just as good. Start reading aloud when children are infants in-fants and don't stop when they learn to read for themselves. Even teenagers teen-agers enjoy hearing a story read aloud. Older children can also be great readers for younger children. Reading aloud to your children is one of the most time-honored and effective ways to encourage a love of reading. It's lots of fun, and your relationship with your children will improve along with his or her reading skills. 2. Act out stories, poems or plays with your children. Encourage active ac-tive reading and listening by involving involv-ing the child in the story with you. Stop to ask questions, point to things or let the child complete the sentences in a well-known story. 3. Encourage young readers by labeling things in your house. Print names of common objects on construction con-struction paper and tape them on doors, mirrors, windows, beds, lamps or chairs. 4. Get children their own library cards and take them to the library regularly. Also, as finances allow, provide children with age-appropriate age-appropriate books of their own. 5. Let children open junk mail and tell you what it's about, and whether it should be kept or tossed. 6. Encourage your children to read to you. Ask them to read a comic strip or the weather forecast out of the paper. 7. Help your child scan the paper for news stories on topics of interest to them. Perhaps they could follow a sports figure's career or keep tabs on an environmental issue. 8. Get a subscription in your child's name for a magazine specifically written for children. 9. Have a grandparent record a favorite book on tape for a grandchild. grand-child. 10. Model reading. When parents are seen reading for information and enjoyment, children are more likely to enjoy reading as well. Share information from something you have read or bring interesting items to the dinner table to read aloud. Show how important reading is to you and how it enriches your life. Fathers play an important role in their children's reading ability and school achievement. For boys, especially, es-pecially, elementary school can be a female-dominated experience causing caus-ing them to view education as something for girls. Having a father who models reading and who reads to them can be an important influence in-fluence on a child's attitude toward learning. |
