New book helps parents to make reading fun Friday, January 29, 2010 - 17:51

Reading with a child is more important to their educational achievement than their family's wealth or social class. A new book offering parents and carers ideas on how to help pre and primary school children read and enjoy books has been published by NIACE. Read With Me Again, a sequel to the popular Read With Me, suggests that helping children to associate reading with happy times will make them more likely to be lifelong readers.

Parents and carers can have a powerful influence over a child's development as a reader and for all children, praise, encouragement, reassurance and pleasure are the vital factors towards becoming a confident reader.

Read With Me Again shares many ideas and suggestions, like:

• start sharing books even before your child knows which way up to hold the book;
• read books your child loves;
• focus on the things that are right, not the mistakes;
• keep reading to children even after they've learned to read independently; and
• stop reading when they've had enough so they don't see it as a punishment.
  

  Parents and other adults have an essential part to play in giving children a love of reading...which will give them a strong foundation for their education.

  Carol Taylor, Director of Operations at NIACE

Read With Me Again also includes four popular, illustrated stories from Walker Books. Look at You, Shoe Baby, Sleepy Place, and Ginger Finds a Home all contain features loved by children - rhythm, rhyme, repetition and the element of surprise - and are about being looked after and cared for. The stories offer opportunities for adults and children to talk about and share experiences in a reassuring and comforting way.

Carol Taylor, Director of Operations at NIACE, said:

"Parents and other adults have an essential part to play in giving children a love of reading and an interest in books which will give them a strong foundation for their education. We hope that the advice in Read with Me Again will give adults the confidence and enthusiasm to read regularly with children and start them off on a lifetime of pleasure in reading."