We must encourage a culture of reading

Instilling a culture of reading is the responsibility of every parent. It is our duty to encourage a culture of reading, and no matter how daunting it can be to read the same story night after night, it can actually turn beneficial. Repeating the same story speaks of your child’s interests and for such, patience is the key.

It is important that we make books come to life, and we can do so by imitating the characters of the book in order to engage our children in the plot. For example, playing Patsy Apatosaurus and Nana as you read Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs can make your child want to read more. To quote Roald Dahl, one of the most iconic authors, “The writer must have a genuine and powerful wish not only to entertain children, but to teach them the habit of reading. He or she must be a jokey sort of fellow and must like simple tricks and jokes and riddles and other childish things.”

I believe that seeing is believing and our children definitely pay attention to what we do. So, if your child catches you reading every day, it can have a ripple effect and chances are that he or she will also feel inclined to curl up with their favourite book.

It is also important to let your child experience libraries and book fairs as it helps immensely in shaping a child’s reading habits. Book fairs are great because they allow children to have a glimpse at a wide array of genres and books, and that will help you as a parent to get an idea of your child’s preference when it comes to books.

From timeless classics of Charles Dickens to delightfully made up words in the marvellous stories of Roald Dahl, to exciting adventures in Enid Blyton’s tales, the spell binding line of the Harry Potter series and hilarious misadventures of Greg in Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy kid, the options are many. Let’s work to encourage the love of reading among our children!

- The reader is an Indian stay-at-home mother and homemaker based Abu Dhabi