“You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax, all you need is a book.”
Last year I spoke on a literary panel for The Book Depository, discussing the importance of books in our children’s lives and how to perpetuate a love of reading in an age where screens reign. A year on and my eldest child has found it a struggle to master the art of reading since starting primary school, though she loves books. As parents, it’s important to think about what we can do to foster good literacy habits from early on and support our children’s relationship with reading.
To that end, I sought the wisdom of preschool and primary educators, Lisa Meyer and Susy Leal, to understand the evolution of learning to read, its place in our lives and how our own approach to books affects that of our children.
“Being able to read is one of the most important skills for children to develop, and it’s not just because it allows them to acquire knowledge in general reading; it also helps us to navigate places and complete tasks in everyday life.”
With almost two decades of teaching under her proverbial belt, Susy has had a front row seat to numerous children’s academic development. “Reading,” she asserts, “is a big part of everything that we do, it’s all around us.” It’s true, we as adults perhaps take for granted the fact that the need for reading permeates nearly all of our daily existence. From menus to shop fronts, food packaging in the supermarket, car registrations and street signs; words are everywhere and if we can’t understand them how can we expect to competently exist?
How do the tools for learning to read originate? “When children are being read to, have access to books, or just sit and open a book and learn that the page has to be turned they’re already learning the conventions of reading,” says Susy. Pre-reading, she explains, sets the foundations for ultimately reading sentences on a page. From when they are babies the best thing we can do for our children is expose them to books, thus they become familiar with print or text, they learn that books go in a certain direction, how to hold it and that there is a connection between the written and spoken word. “Reading starts really early on and I believe that it is just as important for children to be read to as to be able to read,” says Susy.
Early childhood educator, Lisa Meyer, who has been teaching for 25 years, agrees with the importance of a parent (or prime caregiver) reading to children from when they are babies, as setting the skills for learning to read. “I think in fostering a love of reading, a love of books, it’s very important because that’s who the children feel most comfortable with,” says Lisa. “Whatever you're doing, whether it's singing to your baby while changing their nappy or playing games in the car like I Spy,” says Lisa, “it’s about what makes reading fun, it all has to be a positive experience so that they can view books and reading as a positive experience.”
“The preschool program starts from when they are babies, it’s all a progression to learning to read and write. It’s not something you start three months before they start school, it’s all happening over the first five years.”
Pre-Reading Activities
sing to your baby – hearing rhyme is part of learning to read
rhyming games – encouraging children to identify the same sounds which will later help with spelling certain words
puppets – talking through puppets offers a 3D alternative to books in demonstrating the art of conversation and what it entails
puzzles – instils understanding that matching pieces together makes them go from a half to a whole just like letters to words
matching games – first colours and objects and later the letters of their name
memory game – visual memory is very important particularly with learning sight or camera words that cannot be sounded out phonetically
show that what you say can be written down, eg. when they’ve drawn a picture of mummy and daddy, write the words onto the drawing
baking/cooking together – learning to follow a recipe helps them understand how to form a narrative and ultimately learn how to write a story or sequence of events – again reinforces the connection between the written and spoken word
I Spy – start with colours for younger children and move onto letters once they’re comfortable
Listing games are great for breeding good listening skills, learning what comes first, what comes next “even your routine at home or preschool is part of pre-reading,” says Lisa.
Audiobooks – a great tool for nurturing good concentration and listening skills
“I think children today get so much visual input from screens, so having the audio option enables them to engage with a story in a different way and engage with their imagination.”
Both Susy and Lisa advocate the need for leading by example and that comes back to a child’s exposure to reading. In an age dominated by technology, our children are more likely to see us engaging with hardware than a hardback. Thus if we want our children to engage with books and become competent readers, shouldn’t we be practicing what we preach? “If significant people in [a child’s] life are seen to be reading then that shows them that reading is important,” says Susy.
That’s not to say that technology should be feared, certainly it presents a key skill in itself for navigating the current age. However, caution should certainly be applied when it comes to thinking about how our kids are using technology. “I think technology can be beneficial, as long as it’s being used well and used wisely,” says Susy, “but it shouldn’t replace reading, rather it’s a good thing to support and supplement the actual act of reading a book.” Whether that’s an application geared towards literacy or one which offers a ‘read me’ audio option for books on a device.
The role of audio brings us back to the act of being read to and this literary exposure is particularly important for children at all stages of their learning journey, not least those who may be struggling. “It exposes them to a variety of words and sounds and it helps them to build their vocabulary and it also helps them to understand how language works,” says Susy, “things like expression and intonation and how to have a conversation.”
Reading is of course linked with a child’s speech development and as Lisa points out, “if a child isn’t pronouncing words correctly in their speech, they won’t be able to spell correctly.” So as parents we must take our role of narrator incredibly importantly because how we interpret the words in books will actively fuel how our children’s grasp of language develops.
Before my children were even a blip on my consciousness I was preparing for this role in their lives; eager to share the childhood classics my mother had read to me curled up on my brother’s bed. Winnie the Witch, The Tiger Who Came to Tea, Catch That Hat, Peace at Last… titles that had been a staple of my childhood would be waiting on the book shelves of my home ready to enchant, entertain and engage my little ones. But with all the pressures engrained in parenting, has the fabled ‘bedtime story’ become one of them?
When it comes to setting aside that time to read to our children, the reality for many parents sees the commitment of work, younger children, after school activities and a million other things make bedtime the least likely opportunity for a story. We’re tired and honestly the last thing we want to do is read Room on the Broom for the twentieth time in a week. “You’ve got to find what best suits you,” says Susy, who admits that she too is an infallible mortal who (shock horror!) doesn’t read to her kids every night. “Read when it suits and when it comes about organically. Focus on the quality of your reading time with your child rather than the quantity of time spent reading.”
Make that time shared reading a real chance to delve between the lines; initiate discussion around the story, answer questions your child may have and really explore the narrative in depth. “Much better than a quick flick at the end of the day sans expression, enthusiasm or enjoyment because that is what your child will take away,” says Susy. Remember they take their cues from you and your behaviour, your attitude towards things sets the tone for how your child views things too.
The beauty of books is that they teach a child about so much more than just text on a page. Being able to read opens their minds to important life skills, understanding friendships and about being resilient among other things. “Why it’s important to read is so much more than just the words, it’s about them being able to understand what they’re reading, and if children understand how print works then they’re more able to understand how the world works around them, they’re able to be a little more independent in what they do, where they go and decisions they make,” says Susy.
Find the titles to inspire your children's literary experience at The Book Depository because, in the words of Dr Seuss, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”