Читать книгу Help Your Child Love Reading - Alison David - Страница 7

This book is not about the academic importance of reading – there is little or no debate about that (or at least there shouldn’t be). This book is about creating a lifelong love of reading for pleasure, because above all else there are so many wonderful things that reading brings to children: comfort and reassurance, confidence and security, relaxation, happiness and fun. It feeds their imagination, helps them to empathise and it even improves their sleeping patterns. And reading is a really important element of family life. It provides a connection between you and your child from the very early days through to teens and beyond. It’s a strong ‘glue’ for your relationship, bringing you closer together through the sharing of reading and stories. It helps build long-lasting family ties and provides a shared set of stories and experiences that are unique to your family.

EXPERT VIEW

Families who enjoy reading have more opportunities for discussion, developing empathy and attachment. Reading as a skill also boosts confidence in children as they are able to self-teach almost any subject once they have learned to read.

Dr Amanda Gummer, child development expert

Without reading, childhood is poorer: children are missing out on one of life’s great pleasures and the huge advantages that reading can bring. I talked with a teaching assistant who works with children who don’t have happy lives – she sums up very well what reading can do:

I work individually with the children who really struggle with reading. I spend extra time with them to support their learning and afterwards I often read to them. I will never forget one boy. He was 14 and a ‘problem’ child, always in trouble, aggressive, could barely read for himself and deprived in lots of ways. Over the weeks, I worked through the Alex Rider stories with him and he loved them. One day when I was reading aloud to him this troubled boy leaned over and rested his head on my shoulder. It made me so sad. We are not allowed to touch, much less hug the pupils, but he so needed it. It made me realise that reading is so much more than just the story.

Caroline, teaching assistant

EXPERT VIEW

When children and young people are engaged in reading they learn crucially important lessons which will stand them in good stead throughout their lives. They learn that reading is fulfilling and that you do it for a variety of different purposes. Sometimes it is hard-going, but children develop the understanding that if they keep going they will achieve fulfilment and pleasure. This happens with all kinds of reading material, including novels, poems and information books.

David Reedy, literacy expert

You would think that with all these benefits reading would be really widespread. Yet, through my work and observations, I have seen children across the entire social scale who do not benefit from it and it truly makes me sad. I hope writing this book will help change things.