Making Connections Through Books
By Donna Stark
How often do you or your children read? Do you make reading a priority in your lives? If you don't, you may want to consider doing so! By prioritizing reading and cultivating a love of books, you can help your children improve their listening skills, comprehension, language development, attention span, and creativity. And there is no better time to start than now! Why? Well, in case you haven't heard, April is Drop Everything and Read Month!
Building a Habit of Reading
Reading to your young children and establishing reading times for your older ones can deliver many benefits that will last well into their adult years. It really is one of the best things you can encourage as a parent and fortunately, it couldn't be any easier to do. All it takes is some time, some reading material, and a firm commitment. Here are some helpful suggestions.
- Recognize that all reading is good - If you can't picture your children sitting down with thousand-page books, encourage them to read something else. This might mean they will grab a comic book or even a cookbook, but that's OK. If they enjoy what they are reading, they will stick with it!
- Keep books within reach - Make sure your books are accessible. Set some baskets filled with books around the house, keep a few on the coffee table, and make it a point to strategically place a couple on everyone's nightstand. Wouldn't it be great to catch them grabbing a book when they go to bed instead of their phone?
- Incorporate reading into your daily routine - If you establish a specific time during the day to read with your children, you will be sending a message that this time is important. In addition, your children will start to look forward to that time as a way to decompress and relax.
- Join a book club - One of the best ways to create excitement for reading is to join a book club! Whether it is a story hour at your local library or a more advanced group online, joining with others to read, discuss, or critique different genres of books can be a lot of fun.
Making Connections Through Books
Encouraging early reading habits in your children will help ensure future success down the road in many areas of their lives, so start today, drop everything, and get your whole family inspired to read more. And who knows? You may even be surprised with how much of an impact reading can make!
To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in San Ramon, Calif.