Sometimes we think our kids aren’t as good at reading as we wanted or as we thought they would be. Whether it’s due to the child’s unwillingness or failures in the learning process, this seems to cause tutors, whether parents or teachers, a feeling of helplessness which can even cause more stress and anxiety.
This could lead to less productive reading experiences because the child who can’t grasp the information causes more stress for the tutor who then transfers part of this stress to the child.
Feeling down? Don’t be! We have the answer to this problem. Below we have 3 ideas you can use when you pick up a Materlu book, be it superheroes, princesses or other worlds of fantasy.
Pick up a book, take a seat and read it with your kid. Make reading a wonderful learning experience.
1 – Don’t Stress!
The simplest way to encourage children to engage in reading is to relax around the process. Naturally, stress increases when we see that our children are not learning to read at the speed we would like. This can be transmitted to children, which can translate into bad reading experiences.
One of the easiest ways to relax during the reading process is to change places. If the reading becomes monotonous on the sofa or on the dining table, change where you are. Whether it’s in the parents’ bed or in the sister’s bed, in the kitchen or in the pantry… Change the location! Get out of the house and sit on a garden bench, go to the beach, lie down in the shade of a big tree.
Location can make a big difference in how reading is perceived and appreciated. Why learn to read while washing dishes or watching TV when you can do it in contact with nature, in a calm, safe and more important environment than all this. It gives us the silence and calm that we need when reading well.
In addition to bringing a mix of positive sensations to children, changing location is a good solution to stress and learning problems.
2 – No word pointing
Getting stuck on a word in many cases results in pointing at the unknown word and saying it out loud, or the parent becomes the “instant word factory” and supplies the word to the child. Both of these strategies are unsustainable. When you’re trying to understand the meaning of a word, the least effective strategy is to actually say the word. Although it seems to us a normal thing to do, all this may change due to the meaning it has in the sentence or image in question.
The core of the reading process is making meaning. We know that a child is learning when they can make a change to a text, they are being resourceful because they have the ability to change words or the meaning of a phrase to make sense of reading. If a child changes from ”cold’ to ”flu” it is because they are putting the text in their own words. As adults, we tend to miss certain words when we read but often, we don’t even realize that it happened. We must treat children the same and it is at this time that we should not interfere. Children need to know that whenever they read a word badly or strangely, there’s no harm done.
When a child changes a word, or looks to a parent for help, the importance of making meaning needs to be shared. Simple processes like ”what word would make sense here?” or ”let’s look for more information about this” gives the reader the tools and a strategy to understand what they are reading.
3 – Children always know what to read
The choice of book is the main element of the reading process. We, as adults, rarely read a book of a subject or category that doesn’t interest us. In cases where this happens, very quickly we end up losing interest, probably because it does not become entertaining to us, the book ends up abandoned on a table or on a shelf. If we do this and think it’s right, why should we be different with children when they also show disinterest in something they are reading?
Usually, these choices we make for our kids come from a good place, a place of love because we are only trying to help and encourage reading material that is accessible for our child. It’s often hard to let go and let children choose their own books. This is vital, however, for developing strong self-sufficient readers.
It is important to give the child the support they need. When we see a child choosing a book that may be beyond their level of reading or comprehension, we should use supportive strategies such as reading aloud or reading simultaneously so that the child can follow the most appropriate line of thought for them. It is important that these support levels are negotiated with the child so that they get the help they really need. Every parent does the best job they know when it comes to helping their child to read.
Relax and enjoy the reading journey! Whether you pick Tandem Bike or The time spaceship, Materlu gives you all the help you need to make your child’s reading experience a wonderful time.
