Habit is something that becomes a part of one’s life at one stage and remains forever. That is the reason why parents should inculcate good habits among children from an early age on to make them an integral part of their life. One such very important habit that parents should try to instil among children is the habit of reading books.

A good book is like a good companion that can guide you through. Reading books can have several positive effects on children, like language development, vocabulary development, enhancing thought process and attention span along with building analytical thinking among them.  Besides benefiting them in their academics, it broadens their imagination and creativity and helps them to find scope to learn new things around the world.

It is better to encourage children at an early age with the habit of reading. Parents can start with buying colourful stories or rhyme books to their toddlers to attract them towards books. They can read to them every night before bedtime so that it becomes a part of their daily routine as they grow.

Here are a few tips to get your child interested in the habit of reading:

• Read together with your child: The first important thing that you can do as parents is to read with your child from a young age. By reading together and making it a fun activity, you can make your child understand the joy of reading.

• Story time: Set a fixed story time every day, may be at night before going to bed or in the afternoon before nap time. Read aloud to your toddler the favourite books of their favourite characters or subjects.

• Set an example yourself: Set an example by reading in front of your child. Watching you read will make them interested in reading too. You can also encourage your kid to join you every day with his/her books.

• Easy access to reading materials:  Make it easy for your child to access books and other reading materials. Make a small reading corner at home with a book shelf complete with different reading materials and a cosy bean bag where your child can sit and enjoy some quality reading time.

• Local library: You can get membership in the local library and visit it often to access books. A visit to the library on a regular basis can become a fun activity for you and your child every week or fortnight.

• Discuss what your child reads:  Once your child completes reading a book, talk to him/her about the book and what it conveys. This way, you can improve on the comprehension skills of your child.

• Explore different genres:   Let your child explore different genres of books and find out the most exciting genre that he/she is interested in. This way your child will be able to explore different themes ranging from mystery, science-fiction, fantasy, adventure, thriller and more.

Reading is one of the most interesting things for children to enjoy. If you are finding it difficult to make your child interested in reading, use the above tips and try to inculcate the value of reading to your child. Besides you can seek help from any specialized child counsellor to understand your child’s interest better.  Reading is likely to be a fun activity for your child and not something that frustrates the child. So, try to make reading enjoyable for your children.  You can visit Zoylu for more such parenting tips for child development.