In the era of reading thousands of picture books every year, how should we tell our children about picture books?

The Paper's reporter Yang Sichao

Now, both schools and parents are paying more and more attention to the cultivation of children's reading ability and interest in reading.

"2-year-old children read 2,000 picture books", "4-year-old children have 5,000 books at home", you can find a lot of reading "cow babies" on social media, and you will also see some mothers sharing strict reading plans every day. At present, more and more parents realize the importance of reading, but there are also many parents who do not know how to choose books and how to tell their children about books.

Don't just "volume" the amount of reading

"Other people's children can read nearly a thousand picture books a year, and our children must do it." In order to cultivate children's reading habits and reading ability, some parents will be too concerned about the number of books their children read, and despise the quality of reading. Others require how many pages your child must read each day in order to complete the reading plan.

In fact, only seeking fast and seeking more in reading will not only not allow children to benefit from reading, but will destroy children's interest in reading.

What is the right reading guide?" Nao Matsui, the father of Japanese picture books, once said, "The more parents engage in a reading race like a rider, the more meaningless or even harmful the results are." Children's reading is the child's happiness, not the parent's face. Parents should put interesting books, not necessarily useful and beneficial books, around their children, so that children can feel the joy of reading freely. If possible, adults and children work together to create a happy reading atmosphere. ”

The cultivation of reading habits needs to be tailored

Let children develop the habit of reading and fall in love with reading, first of all, choose the right book for the child. Fei Dongmei of the Institute of Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences once mentioned in an article that books are expensive but not too much, rather than picking 100 books in the same basket as turnips and cabbages, it is better to let children read a good book 100 times. Children are mentally motivated to read, and this motivation is that reading satisfies their curiosity. In addition, when parents choose books for their children, they should consider their life experience, psychological development and cognitive level, and should not choose books that are too difficult. Books that are too strong in admonition and have a dull drawing style and no personality cannot arouse children's interest in reading.

Reading is a very personalized thing, any book list is only a reference, for the child to choose a book must be based on the child's age, interest and reading level to choose books. If you don't understand your child's interests and understanding, you can read a book with your child that he likes first.

Choosing the right book is the first step, and for illiterate children, how parents accompany their children to read effectively is equally important. When reading picture books, you should not only read the words on the book, but also guide children to experience the stories in the book according to the pictures. The illustrations in the usually good picture books combine the creative thoughts and intentions of the painter. Parents should encourage their children to look at the picture, identify the author's creative intention through the cover picture, guess the storyline through the illustrations in the book, and enhance the child's artistic feeling. Children are also encouraged to discover the details and engage in real-life empathy.

Some parents make their children literate through reading, although this can achieve the effect of literacy, but for picture books, only refer to reading, do not look at pictures, will miss the cultivation of aesthetic education.

Effective reading requires active parent-child interaction

Don't neglect to ask questions of common interest for discussion when reading together. Exercising listening skills and developing children's language and wisdom are two of the parent-child co-reading functions. When parent-child reading, positive interaction is one of the ways to promote effective reading. Parents should appropriately encourage their children to ask questions, ask questions of common interest, trigger children to think, and then communicate. For the output of communication reading, it can be a verbal expression, or it can be a text or a drawing. Many reading researchers suggest that parents and children should discuss the feeling after reading together, which can help children develop the ability to think independently.

Many children like to interrupt readers to ask questions, and some parents feel that this is a manifestation of inattention. In fact, this proves that the child is listening intently to the story, trying to understand the meaning of language, and thinking about the relationship between the characters and the plot of the story. Children of different ages have different attention spans, and many children's attention and memory cannot support them to leave the problem until the end, so parents should respond to the child's problem in time, and then at the end, explain the overall content understanding of the problem.

In general, when cultivating children's reading ability and reading habits, the role of parents should be that of an assistant with the right methods. "Chinese parents are very anxious, and when they touch a book, they think about studying, and they become serious." Regarding the cultivation of children's reading habits, Li Kunshan, a doctor of early childhood education at Southern Illinois University in the United States, proposed "three homely routines".

"Ordinary people", members of the family must have reading habits, children like to imitate, when they see their parents reading books, they will naturally read. "Home cooking", preparing books for children, just like cooking, should be rich in categories. "Household things", to form a fixed habit of reading with children, take a fixed time every day to read together.

Editor-in-Charge: Chen Hua

Proofreader: Zhang Liangliang