Parent Challenge - ideas for reading to your child every night

Parent Challenge – read to your child every night this week!

May 20, 2018

The literacy engine needs each of its parts to work. And parents, you are an essential cog in the literacy wheel. Adults need to be reminded of the importance of children being read to, regularly. So, mark this week as an opportunity to read to your kids every day!

What YOU can do

In households across the developed world, including Australia, children are looking at screens, on apps and engaged in a digital world; these facts reflect the era we live in.

However, we can draw on the immense good of this technological constant. E-books and audio books continue to gain popularity and still promote the book industry. Your local library has these available for FREE – best of all, you can gain access to them from the comfort of home.

As a teacher myself, I placed a huge emphasis on having a range of books available for students. Soensure your son has a selection of books available.

For the parents of older readers (who are tackling chapter books), you may have to be the instigator to actually start the book. Begin this week! In my experience with the reluctant reader, you may have to read the first few chapters to them (to set the scene, explain characters) and often they will continue reading on their own.

Does reading make a difference?

“No matter what else we tested for, the results show that being read to remains an important factor that is not explained away by other factors such as the parents’ education.

Children on 4 – 5 years old who are read to 3-4 times a week have reading ages 6 months ahead of children read to once or twice a week. Reading to children nearly everyday almost doubles their progress to one year ahead of the group.” (Professor Guyonne Kalb, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economics and Social Research, Australia)