Teaching your child to read is a very important milestone. It is also a very rewarding experience, to be able to help your child discover something so important and vital to the rest of their life. However, teaching your child to read can also be a bit overwhelming, and sometimes a little stressful. One thing that I have noticed when helping my son learn to read is that it really is a double edged sword. On one hand he is very excited to learn to read and he is really into it, but then when he finds it tough he finds it a very stressful experience. From a parents’ perspective, it can be quite tough and I wanted to write this piece not to preach to you, but give you some I do not want to say advice, but tips on how to help your child learn to read. Now let me just say all kids are different so what works for one does not work another so do not beat your self up. Just stay calm and above all else enjoy it!!!
1. Reading Is Fun
Never make reading sound like its a chore try and get them excited to be reading. If you have a glum expression on your face when you ask them if they want to read chances are they will probably not, but if you look excited and enthusiastic then go for it.
2. The Right Book
This is very important you know your kid better than anyone so I am not going to tell you what book to read with them. For me my son loves Batman and there was plenty of Batman books on the market that help your child learn to read. And of course as it was Batman he looked forward to reading every night after bath time.
3. Five Finger Rule
Ok this one is not mine I stole it from someone else, but its a great tip to share. If your child sees a book they like the look of in a store then open the middle page and ask them to read. For each word they cannot read raise a finger if you get to five the book is to hard. Of course if they love the look of this book this may be easier said than done, but the five finger rule is one many parents swear by.
4. Using The Pictures
Pictures in a kids book are great because if they are struggling with a word ask them to look at the picture and think what the word might be based on the picture.
5. Setting The Scene
Make sure that you have the right environment to read. I know that if I try to get my son to read while the TV is on there is no way that it is going to happen. The time I found best for reading (again all kids are different) was right after bath time in his bedroom with no other distractions.
6. You Still Need To Read To Them
Just because your child can read does not mean that you should stop reading aloud to them. You can still read stories to them that would be to difficult for them to do so on there own. This is a great way of introducing them to new words. For example my son loves Skylanders, but the Skylanders novel was far to hard for him to read on his own so I read it to him and on many occasions he would ask what did a word mean.
7. Increase The Library
Always add new books to your home library. I mentioned before about my sons love for Batman books. Well he read them so many times that after a while I could cover the words and he would know the story. So always make sure to add new books not only for a fresh challenge, but to keep them interested as well. Some kids will get board reading the same books over and over again. Now I have to say to my son that if he wants to read one of his Batman books we need to read a new one first.
8. Use Sound To Help
One way that I found was great and probably the best actually was to get my son to say each letter out aloud. This would let him see how that when the letters were put together they made the sound of the word. Of course there are those tricky words, but for the most part this was the main thing that helped my son learn to read.
9. Set A Good Example
Let your child see you reading on your own. If they see that you enjoy reading then this will probably make them more interested as well.
10. Encourage Them
It goes without saying that you need to keep telling them what a good job they are doing. But remember to let them read do not cheer them after every single word as in my son case this really annoyed him as he wanted to get on with the story. And I kept interrupting him (these were his exact words) So encourage them, but let them finish a page before you do.
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