Don’t laugh at me but I have always wanted to be a children’s librarian. In fact, I studied that in school. Yet sometimes, plans have a way of changing to accommodate the things that life throws at you. Just because I am not a practicing librarian does not mean that I cannot do the job – if you know what I mean. I was reminded of how important the love of reading is to me when I came across my old books and magazines as I was doing some cleaning up the other day.
I realized the critical role that books and other printed materials played in my life during my formative years and I believe that our children should have the same factors in their lives. Studies have shown that children who read grow up to be more intellectually developed. Children who read learn how to learn more easily – and on their own. More than that, children who read develop their imaginative powers. Contrast reading to watching TV shows and movies – reading encourages children (and even adults!) to create a world of their own in their minds. On the other hand, watching TV or movies presents images – in effect, spoon feeding the viewer and possibly not stimulating one’s imagination as much.
If you remember, I wrote an entry on reading to your children a while back. This is another aspect of reading – reading aloud to your child also helps develop other things. These include vocabulary recognition, language cognition, and voice recognition. I can go on and on about the benefits of reading. The question is this: how do you encourage reading in your children?
Originally posted on March 25, 2008 @ 10:48 am
