Reading Magic

I feel the closest to my daughter when I’m reading to her. I love watching the look of utter delight on her face, the way she shakes her little hands when she is excited, the way she hits the page signalling ‘more’. Being non-verbal, the ability to read is very important, so I have tried, since she was very little, to read aloud to her six to eight books a day (sometimes more on a particularly good day). That is why when I was perusing the local bookstore I was instantly intrigued when I came across the book Reading Magic by Mem Fox. A huge fan of Mem Fox books I immediately bought it. When my daughter lay down for her afternoon nap I made myself a cup of tea, put my feet up and was instantly absorbed. It is only a small book and I was able to complete it in a couple of hours. She writes that if parents understood the huge educational benefits and intense happiness brought about by reading aloud to their children, and if every parents read aloud a minimum of three stories a day to the children in their lives, we could probably wipe out illiteracy within one generation.

In regard to myself, she was preaching to the converted but I thought back to discussions I’ve had with one of my good friends, an early childhood teacher. She mentioned that at the beginning of each Prep year there are those children (more then you would think) who had never opened a book or picked up a pencil. I find this utterly inexcusable as reading aloud to your child, especially with access to so many good libraries nowadays, is totally free. Of course, there are those parents who are illiterate themselves. My response is, what a wonderful time to learn to read. There are many great initiatives run by the government that offer free advice and services.

And those parents with special needs children like myself who have refrained from reading to their child because the child has been completely unresponsive please persist because the reward is so worth it. It took a year reading to her on a daily basis before my daughter showed any interest in books (and believe me I felt extremely disheartened at some stages as she often appeared to drift off in her own little world. But of course, I now know differently). But now at four years of age, my daughter finds enormous pleasure in reading time. Of course, she will always have her off days when her concentration starts lapsing after the third book but on most days I can now keep her engaged for up to six books at a time. The secret of course to keeping reading time enjoyable is by reading expressively, be animated (I wrote one time that a friend’s speech therapist was so boring that her child would fall asleep during the consultations). Secondly, forget the “lesson” aspect of reading. Reading aloud together should be fun. As Mem Fox writes, entertainment is the teacher. Teaching before school kills the fun. Children like their parents to be parents, writes Mem, not teachers. We are after-all, trying to encourage children to love reading and they won’t love reading if it isn’t fun. And lastly, buy beautiful books. My most recent acquisition is Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers. A book about friendship, I must have read it at least twenty times and I still get choked up at the end. I don’t know whether my daughter understands the moral of the story but she seems captivated every time I read it. And those writers out there who don’t read to their children, shame on you.