It’s a well known fact that reading skills are critical for children’s development, and studies have shown a link between competency in reading and overall attainment. Books open to us a world where we meet new characters, hear new stories and encounter new traditions and lifestyles and thus change our perspective and aid mental development.[break]
Sadly, there’s something seriously amiss about the way children are encouraged to read especially in school with many reading books with an average reading age as much as three years below their actual age.
Photo Courtesy: Ekta Book Distributors Pvt. Ltd
“Children spend a lot of time in front of the TV or playing games on their computers and not enough time snuggled up with a good book,” says Manavi Sharma, English teacher at a private boarding school adding that when they do choose to read, they end up selecting relatively light books.
There seem to be so much drift from the reading culture of the past to what is obtainable presently. The blame perhaps lies somewhat, if not solely, on being held captive nowadays by television, and internet. When a child starts school he would have already watched some 3000 odd hours of television and played hundreds of games, thanks to the internet making them so easily accessible. Consequently, reading habits among children are on the decline.
It’s essential that the reading habit be developed not just at school but at home as well. However, it’s of utmost importance that reading shouldn’t seem like a chore. Here’s where the habit of reading for pleasure comes in. With no stress of any kind of test or exam looming over their heads, children can read books of their interest and derive enjoyment, while learning is carried out simultaneously and almost effortlessly.
Prashant Karki, 36, a computer engineer, is a voracious reader who’s never without a book. He fondly remembers his mother reading to him as a child. She would buy new books for him on a weekly basis and they had a ritual where she would let him look at the pictures before they read the story together.
“My mother was used to read a lot and it was her reading to me from an early age that turned me into a book lover,” says Karki adding that he’s trying to instill the same reading habit in his six-year old daughter by reading to her on a daily basis.
Parents and teachers should give great importance to this skill, which is invaluable not only in gaining knowledge, but also to develop critical thinkers and independent learners. The benefits of a sound reading habit to vocabulary, knowledge and grammar cannot be emphasized enough. But more often than not, kids equate reading with studying and when that happens, it’s difficult to get the children interested.
“Pressurizing and hounding a child will only increase his resistance. As a parent, one should remember that the more your child sees you reading, the greater chance they will pick up a book,” says Sushma Mukhiya, a psychologist and counselor.
According to Mukhiya, reading teaches kids to think in a logically connected way. It cultivates a sustained attention span. Readers learn to think in terms of abstract ideas, objective truth and sustained reflection.
“We know that reading ability is highly correlated with academic achievement. So if children are reading books that are too easy, this is not only affecting their reading, but also their intellectual development as they will not be encountering more difficult and complex concepts,” she says.
Teachers, librarians and parents need to engage in more discussions with children about what they’re reading, seeking to follow children’s enthusiasms but ensure that the book is at a high enough level of difficulty to challenge the reader.
The parents, without actually burdening children could ask them to maintain a vocabulary log for the new words they come across, and then to find the meanings of those words and make sentences with them. Parental input of just half an hour a day would make so much of a difference to a child’s reading habits. For younger children, the best activity would be for parents to read with them.
Radha Sharma Rai, senior sales manager at Ekta Book Distributors Pvt. Ltd says that there’s been a huge change in the way people are viewing books. Until a few years earlier, reading was limited to textbooks and a few prescribed classics but now a lot of parents are seen buying books besides the required reading material for their kids.
“There’s been a wave of change in the recent times. Parents now want their kids to read more and so they buy books by the dozen,” says Rai adding that she takes books home for her four-year old and reads to her whenever she can.
However, many young readers look for immediate easy gratification rather than the challenge of more complex or interesting titles; the most sold books around bookstores in town being the Wimpy Kid series and books by Roald Dahl. Not that there’s anything wrong with reading these books. Many parents believe that as long as their kids are reading anything is fine. But along with books like these, parents and teachers alike also need to make sure that their kids pick up something that’s a bit more challenging. It doesn’t have to be an either/or
situation.
Sangita Parajuli, 38, an English tutor who’s also a mother of twins believes that parents need to inculcate a love of books in their kids from an early age by reading to them and then make sure their choice of books are age-perfect when they begin to read themselves.
“My father read to me when I was a kid which is how my love affair with books started. I grew up reading books and still read at least one book every two weeks or so,” says Parajuli explaining that reading habits can’t be forced and has to stem from within and that’s only possible when kids find reading enjoyable.
“Before children read for information and knowledge, the habit of reading for pleasure must be developed, or they won’t become hooked on to books, but will just read when they have to or in some cases when they are forced to,” says Mukhiya further validating Parajuli’s statement.
All in all, the process of reading is always a beneficial activity and it’s imperative that this habit be developed for a well-grounded education. And the earlier it begins the better. After all we have Oprah’s example that proves reading is no less than a lifeline.
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