Recently, a parent asked us a question:
Will children rely more on their parents to read after a long time, and their children will not want to read if they don't read in the future?
The reason is that this parent found that the child who went to kindergarten did not like to read books in normal activities, and she was only interested when she read a picture book to her before bedtime. If you don't read it yourself, your child won't take the initiative to read it.
Although we do not specialize in children's picture books, we have some tips to share with you.
We feel that this parent's concern is biased against the understanding of parent-child co-reading.
The focus of parent-child reading is not "reading", but "parent-child".
Parents accompany their children to read a book, at the same moment, in the same space, and do the same thing, which is a warm moment for parents to unabashedly show their love for their children and for children to enjoy the company of their parents. If there is a love account, the moment when parents accompany their children to read together every day is to store their love for their children in this love account.
Even after entering primary school, teachers still encourage parents and children to read together. My daughter is now in the second grade, and although there are children who check in and out of their homework every day, the teacher still advises parents to arrange parent-child reading time.
Teachers encourage parents to encourage their children to read together through parent-child reading. The focus is still on "parenting", not "reading".
The "parent-child reading" that this parent understands is precisely the focus on "reading". "Parent-child" is just because the child is too young to read, and the form of parent-assisted reading, so there will be doubts.
But in the eyes of children, parents read picture books every day before going to bed as a high-quality companion. It was quiet and warm, there was no noisy environment, no mobile phone disturbance, and my mother and myself were fully immersed in the story.
I feel that the general emphasis on picture books is "parent-child reading", but how to cultivate children's reading ability and specific operation details, there is no good way, and it is all up to parents to explore themselves.
Actually, I quite understand this parent, a fixed reading time every day, a day or two is nothing, but for months, a year or two years every day, sometimes it is really easy to be irritable. Especially for the same book, the child will ask the parent to read it again and again, "read it again, read it again". For example, my daughter's highest record is a copy of "A Different Carmela", which I read 8 times in a row. Therefore, what parents sometimes desperately want to achieve is their children's "independent reading", that is, children read independently and spontaneously.
In fact, this is the "ultimate goal" of most parents to accompany their children to read. But this ultimate goal is based on the child's ability to "read independently".
Independent reading refers to reading in which children no longer rely on adult help. Independent reading can be arranged by parents, for example, parents arrange reading time for children to choose their favorite picture books to read by themselves, or children can take the initiative to bring a book to read by themselves without the help of parents. As for whether the child knows the words or not, it does not matter whether he can read them all. As long as the child is reading a book on his own, it can be counted as independent reading.
Self-directed reading goes a step further, first of all, the child reads on his own, and secondly, he reads actively. Self-directed reading is a completely spontaneous behavior, such as the expectation that the child will be able to pick up a book and read it on his own.
In order to achieve independent reading, children must first be literate and understand to the extent that they match the content of the book, and the fluency of reading will also affect the child's willingness to read independently.
In addition, parents do not have to worry about the lack of meaning in reading picture books to their children every day at this stage.
If a child has not heard a word, he will not say it, and if he has not said it, then he will not understand the meaning of the word when he sees it in the book. Therefore, the more words a child listens to, the more words he will be able to say, and the more words he can say, the smoother he will understand the words and sentences in the book.
There is also a distinction between spoken and written language. Most of our daily life uses spoken language, and children are exposed to a large number of spoken words in their lives, and if they want to understand and master written language, the most suitable way is to read.
The child is still young, and the child is now more emotionally satisfied with "parent-child reading", and if you want your child to slowly transition to independent reading, you still need to pay attention to several details:
1. When the fun of other games is greater than reading, it is difficult for children to take the initiative to read.
I started reading books on my own very early as a child. The main reason for recalling it is that in the 80s, there were very few entertainment activities suitable for children, TV was not very popular, there were no game consoles, there were no amusement facilities in the family yard, and I could only wait for my parents to rest on weekends when I went to the park, and I didn't like it very much when I went out to run. What entertainment is left? Fortunately, my dad has a habit of buying magazines, and every time he goes to the post office to buy magazines, he will take me there, and my mom can reimburse me for books and newspapers, she ordered me some "Juvenile Science" and "Children's Pictorial", and there are many books at home that I am interested in.
Nowadays, children have so many ways to have fun that it is difficult for them to take the initiative to read books before they feel the joy of reading.
2. It is important to arrange your child's reading time.
If your child is unable to read actively, it is also necessary to schedule some reading time during the day. For example, let the child go to the bookshelf and choose a picture book he likes to read by himself, and the parents will accompany him. Children can read words if they can understand words, and if they can't understand them, they can read pictures.
Of course, this requires the picture book children at home to have a choice. Otherwise, if you turn over and over again so many books every time, the child will soon get tired of reading it and will not read it by himself.
In fact, if you are provided with a large number of picture books and insist on reading them together, the children will more or less try to read them on their own. The key is whether parents can pay attention and provide appropriate help and guidance to their children.
For example, in our work, we encounter some parents who dislike their children for always taking the books out of the way every time they read picture books, and repeatedly remind their children to remember to put the books back when they take them out, and criticize the children once they find that the children have not put them back in time. Over time, although children can get a little pleasure from reading, because reading always makes their mother angry, they have to be criticized, it is better to play something else, and the enthusiasm for reading is getting worse and worse.
Another example is that many picture books are not uniform in specifications, large and small, and some parents feel that it is too troublesome to clean up, so they put all the picture books in a sorting box. It's neat, it's neat, but it's more difficult for children to find their favorite picture books. After parents realize this problem, the problem of changing the organizer box to a suitable bookcase for the child is solved.
Some parents accompany their children to read as a routine, or take parent-child reading as a means of "sleeping", and parents themselves are not immersed in reading, so it is naturally difficult to persist for a long time.
In addition, some children have an advantage in hearing in terms of cognition, and the same content is more impressive than watching it all the time. Some children are visual and dominant channels, and they may not be able to remember when they listen, but they will remember it after watching it a few times. Therefore, in the child's enlightenment stage, do not attach too much importance to the form of reading. Of course, seeing is important, but listening is equally important, hearing and vision are both forms of information input for children, both are reading, and both are ways to exercise understanding and thinking skills.
Every child is a unique individual, some children improve their abilities quickly, some children are slower, but sooner or later, the child has accumulated enough, and it will naturally improve to a higher level. For example, if the child knows more words, he will feel that his parents are reading too slowly, and it is better to read it faster than himself, so he will naturally be more willing to read it himself.
All in all, it is a bit too early to worry that children will not be able to read without their parents in the future, and they will read by themselves after primary school at the latest, even if parents do not ask for teachers.
How nice it is to be happy to accompany your child to read and give her full of love.