How To Help Your Child With Their Reading

In the wake of World Book Day I thought I'd share some of my top tips to help you support your child's reading journey

Some of you may already know that before I became a mum I was a Primary School Teacher for many years and I'm still absolutely passionate about early education. Yesterday was 'World Book Day' a day to celebrate reading, to dress up in fun costumes and to have fun with books. But now the day has passed I thought it might be of use to you to find out how you can continue this excitement about reading with your child, something I know many parents really find difficult.

In our society we often assume that 'teacher knows best' but I'm here to tell you that that's a load of rubbish...YOU know your child best and so take some of these tips with a pinch of salt. Not all of them will be appropriate for your child. You know what it is they struggle with, you know what motivates them, you know their little quirks. So just pick what works for you.

1. TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF! - Schools are full of attainment targets, learning goals, awards and progress tables. This can add up to a lot of pressure on little minds. So try to balance this out by relaxing about their learning at home. Children (like us adults) need time to unwind. They spend all day in a highly stimulating environment often with lots of pressure (sometimes this is just pressure they put on themselves) so let their time at home be about fun not about making progress.

2. DON'T COMPARE THEM TO OTHER CHILDREN! - All parents are guilty of this to some extent...I know I am. We get so used to comparing everything - sleep patterns, diet, personalities and then when the focus turns to learning this can often lead to children feeling like they are letting us down by not keeping up (or indeed finding it stressful to maintain high performance at the other end of the spectrum). All children are different, learn at different times and enjoy different things. So relax...they will read when the time is right for them.

3. WRITING IS EQUALLY AS IMPORTANT - So this isn't necessarily what schools will agree with. Many push reading first to support writing. But in actual fact, an interest in writing usually happens first or around the same time. This is because children learn most effectively when they see something has a purpose. They will write (I'm talking early mark-making here) to record their thoughts. Later they realise that by using the same marks from their cultural writing, other people will be able to understand what they have written. This then moves on to wanting to understand what others have written too. We can't read if writing (mark making) doesn't exist. So encourage them to draw, doodle, paint and mess around with making marks and help them apply meaning to them. Model your own writing (but remember this doesn't mean pressurising them to copy you!)

4. TALK, SING AND HAVE FUN WITH LANGUAGE - Similar to writing, a good foundation in speaking will help wonders with reading. Children have a much better chance of spotting grammatical patterns, combinations of words and key phrases if they are confident talkers. So talk all the time to child about everything and anything, even if it's absolute nonsense. In fact the more silly and fun your talk is with them the more memorable it will be. Remember to keep it positive though - try not to correct all their mistakes. They will learn by copying you not by being corrected in the way that they learned to walk by copying and trying for themselves.

5. LET THEM SEE YOU READ FOR FUN - This is linked to the idea that children learn best when they see something has a purpose. If you show your child that reading is fun and a great skill to have, they are going to want to learn how to do it to. Getting them to want to learn is half the battle!

6. READ TO THEM EVERY DAY - Schools are forever sending reading books home but it doesn't matter how old your child is they will still learn so much from listening to you read. This is a fantastic bonding exercise to and the perfect way to unwind at the end of a busy day. Don't worry if you aren't a confident reader, your child thinks the world of you and will enjoy the quality time together. They may even be inspired by the way that you tackle something you find challenging and can learn great strategies for decoding trickier words.

7. LET THEM CHOOSE WHAT TO READ - It's important that we don't force our choices onto our children. Do you remember being told to read certain books? It feels like a real chore. Whereas one you picked yourself you can't wait to dive into.

8. STOCK UP ON FAIRY STORIES AND TRADITIONAL TALES - Make sure your collecting includes some traditional tales. They have fantastic morals, great and memorable characters and storylines as well as often having repeating passages which all help children remember them. If a child learns a story inside out they have so much more chance of working out what the text says. This can then be used to decode other stories.

9. BE PREPARED TO READ THE SAME STORIES AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN! - Smaller children are particularly know for this wanting of repetition but it is also beneficial to older learners to. The more you hear something the more the language can be absorbed. They can then use this knowledge to follow the text and later to apply the knowledge to other books. It also reinforces the concept that those little squiggles on the page always mean the same thing, it doesn't ever change. This is obvious to us as readers but is a challenging and fundamental concept for young children.

10. AVOID PHONICS PROGRAMME BOOKS IF YOU CAN - Now I know this might not be something other people agree with, but many phonics programme books are just so dry. In my opinion it is far better to read to your child books that may be too challenging for them to attempt themselves yet but are excellent quality literature than to force them to read to you something that at best makes sense but bores their brains out. As above though...if this is what they choose to read then sure, go ahead!

11. BE SUPPORTIVE WHEN YOU LISTEN TO THEM READ - When we see someone struggling we often want to jump in and save the day. This can undermine a child's confidence giving them the impression that you don't think they can do it. Instead let them try, give them a few low pressure prompts "let's have a look what's in the pictures to help us", "are there any sounds you recognise?" etc but if they ask you to tell them what it says, just tell them. Don't force any struggles, give them time to try and move on when they are ready. If it's a really difficult word that they've not come across before just tell them it straight away. Keep it positive, don't criticise or over-correct. Often children will hear for themselves when it doesn't make sense. They don't need you to point it out for them.

12. REMEMBER LEARNING TO READ IS LEARNING A WHOLE NEW LANGUAGE - Imagine yourself trying to read a foreign language, every word is a struggle. You need time to spot the patterns, to look for clues and to make guesses. Just because they read a word on one page doesn't mean they will remember it when they come across it again. It needs lots of time to embed. Practise makes perfect :)

I hope some of this was useful...sorry if I waffled...I do get REALLY into discussions about children's learning. Let me know if you have any tips I can add or you disagree with any of the points I've made in the comments below.

HAPPY READING EVERYONE!!!

#Learningtoread #reading #children #childdevelopment #homework #homelearning