All About Grooming & Encouraging Good Reading Habits

[linden2000]

yeng:

hi jedamum & linden2000,


this is a great place to start for those new to Kindles: http://jeffyen.blogspot.sg/
Jeff is also really helpful with qns. Have asked him a couple myself too.

linden2000,
there is many free books to download off other websites. if you plan to buy from the US Amazon site (which has a larger selection of books), you will need to use a VPN. you can read all about it on the link above. i have not tried buying books via any singapore site so i cant really comment. but i came across a few sites in the past and I think it should be a breeze (compare to walking out of the house to shop for a book) i am too busy trying to finish up all the free books

Many thanks for the info

[hellokittyspore]

jeanieg:

Thanks fable for your encouragement!


The only books I read nowadays are mainly on the topic of KIDS! Guess I should try to read to them again and not be lazy...hehe

When they are young, it's important to allocate some time to read to them. Slowly, you can request them to read 1 chapter while you read 2 chapters per day.

As days go by, they will start to read up on their own especially when they wanted to know the ending of the story. :rahrah:

[jeanieg]

Thank you all for the valuable input.


My girls would rather sit and draw together than read.
When they have free time, it’s usually drawing or playing make believe
Characters (usually fairies), rather than picking up a book.

My sister suggested that I should do a reward thingy to encourage reading.
Like no watching of their favourite shows unless they sit down and read. Am just
Wondering if a ‘forced’ system will backfire one day?

[Funz]

We have movie nights where we turn our living room into a cinema, we have lazy afternoons for reading as well. Nice cool room. Relaxing music, drinks and munchies.


I love to read and DD has picked up my habit. DS well, not at all into reading. But with the cool room, cool music and yummy munchies, he could not resist and joined in as well. Well of course to be in the room, the criteria is books only, no toys or games. Even if he stays and flip through a book for only 10 minutes, that is better than nothing. And if the book is interesting enough, he will be at it for the rest of the afternoon.

[hellokittyspore]

jeanieg:

Thank you all for the valuable input.


My girls would rather sit and draw together than read.
When they have free time, it's usually drawing or playing make believe
Characters (usually fairies), rather than picking up a book.

My sister suggested that I should do a reward thingy to encourage reading.
Like no watching of their favourite shows unless they sit down and read. Am just
Wondering if a 'forced' system will backfire one day?

If your girls are K2 and above, you can try Rainbow Fairy series. These books can be borrowed from the library and they are also available for sales in Popular Book Store. My girl has been pestering for to read with her on these books as they have many fairies characters.

Better don't use \"reward thingy\" approach. I tried that when my boy is young but it back-fired. I told him that if he need to communicate to him, he needs to communicate to me in Mandarin in order to get his message across to me. He used back the same strategy on me, requesting me to communicate to him in English. You will be surprised at how fast they pick up from the strategies that parents' used.

[Imami]

Just curious – do you think the time will come for all children to become avid readers? Or it’s more nurture than in born? Or it’s more geared towards the environment in which the kid lives in – whether it promotes reading?


My child was never keen in books until he’s 18months old and since then, there was no turning back. He would pick books over cars (his favourite toy) and would sit quietly to read, book after book. Our home is full of books and I love to read. My hubby is occasionally seen with a trade journal or newspapers, I am always with something to read every night before bed time.

On the other hand, his cousin is never interested to read. The parents prefer TV to reading but they do have a reasonable amount of books at home. The child is 5 this year.

[janet88]

Funz:

We have movie nights where we turn our living room into a cinema, we have lazy afternoons for reading as well. Nice cool room. Relaxing music, drinks and munchies.


I love to read and DD has picked up my habit. DS well, not at all into reading. But with the cool room, cool music and yummy munchies, he could not resist and joined in as well. Well of course to be in the room, the criteria is books only, no toys or games. Even if he stays and flip through a book for only 10 minutes, that is better than nothing. And if the book is interesting enough, he will be at it for the rest of the afternoon.

Wow, your movie nights and turning the living room into cinema sounds wonderful. Envious man. I love to read, but no manuals please. Female, Her World...I won't put it down. But son hates to read. For newspaper, I will read and cut out articles that he should know...my friend advised me to do so. What else can I do if I don't cut out...he will never touch the newspapers :stupid: frustrating when he has to know certain news like hurricane.

[Funz]

Imami:

Just curious – do you think the time will come for all children to become avid readers? Or it’s more nurture than in born? Or it’s more geared towards the environment in which the kid lives in – whether it promotes reading?

Nature does have a part to play but I think nurture and environment has a bigger part.

I read a lot and will usually have a book with me. I read a lot to both of them when they were younger. DD has my reading habits while DS doesn't. DH does not read at all.

Among us sisters, I think I am the one who is most hooked on books. Elder sis reads but not as much and I think it is partly because of my Dad did not spend as much time reading to her as he did to me. Younger sis reads a fair bit but by then my Dad was too busy to instill in her any reading habits. Think she picked up from me and my elder sis.

One of my fondest memories of my childhood are those of sitting on my daddy's lap while he read to me. He bought stories with audio tapes for me to listen to as well. Can still vividly remember the 3 little pigs songs and dialogue. He introduced me to Shakespeare stories when I was 7/8yrs old. Not the actual Shakespeare work but the modern English version with illustrations. Merchant of Venice, Caesar, Midsummer Night's Dream, King Lear, MacBeth, Taming of the Shrew. There was also Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Heidi, all the Enid Blyton books, Nancy Drew, Famous Five, Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, etc. To lead into the subject of BGR and sex, he bought mills & boons books. :rotflmao:

But as far back as I can remember, he does not read much himself. Aside from the daily newspaper, I have never seen him with any books. Neither does my mum read much aside from recipe books.

[sunset_dae]

I exposed my son to books when he was very son, I remembered a friend who both sons made their way from GEP all the way to Hwa Chong.

The dad told me to make yr son love books, bring him to the library as often as you can. Another parent told me, have as many books as possible in yr house and at every room so that yr child can pick up a room at any corner of yr house and read.
I have tried both and it works. My 5 year old son can now read v well without much guidance, I exposed him to a lot of funny and interesting books, 3D pop up books, moral books, encylopedia books since young.
Now reading has become a habit to him, every morning he will wake up 6.40am, on the light and start reading while changing and eating breakfast. Then he will bring books to childcare centre to read, come back and continue to read. He doesnt ask me to on television, nor ask for Ipad/Iphone. Its because I rarely let him touch on all these gadgets.
After he finishes his homework, he will quickly sit down and read books.
I also bring him to book fair and let him chooses his favourite books.
I even involve him when selecting bookshelves for his books. I brought him to play, shows and movies and will go to bookstore to look for these books after he had finished the movies.
Reading has become part of his life and I believe its benefical to expose yr child early to books.

[HAPPYH]

slmkhoo:

Imami:

Just curious – do you think the time will come for all children to become avid readers? Or it’s more nurture than in born? Or it’s more geared towards the environment in which the kid lives in – whether it promotes reading?


My child was never keen in books until he’s 18months old and since then, there was no turning back. He would pick books over cars (his favourite toy) and would sit quietly to read, book after book. Our home is full of books and I love to read. My hubby is occasionally seen with a trade journal or newspapers, I am always with something to read every night before bed time.

On the other hand, his cousin is never interested to read. The parents prefer TV to reading but they do have a reasonable amount of books at home. The child is 5 this year.

It's part nature and part nurture, as are so many things. Some people, by nature, are just more inclined to like reading. Others, less inclined, can be persuaded and trained into reading more. Some, though, will only read for a purpose. My parents weren't very avid readers, but provided lots of opportunites to read at home. I turned out to be a very keen reader, but my brother only reads when he has a purpose for it, not just for pleasure. But he is very highly educated and has a very good command of spoken and written English. In my home, my kids have been influenced by me to read quite a lot even though my husband doesn't, but even so, I can see that they approach reading differently.

My DD doesn't seem to have the thrist to read so I am trying to nurture the habit of reading.