Keri Mosier's 3-year-old daughter often sits on her bed for up to an hour, flipping pages of children's books and making up stories.
"My daughter is so obsessed with books," the Phoenix mother says.
Not enough parents are doing what Mosier does, according to Reading Is Fundamental Inc., which works to motivate children from birth to age 8 and their parents to read.
Reading Is Fundamental uses U.S. Census Bureau research that reveals about 50 percent of children ages 1 to 5 were read to seven or more times in the previous week. For children in families living below the poverty line, that number drops to 41 percent.
Phoenix librarian Elaine Meyers said 20 minutes a day is what parents should be striving for.
And it's not about pushing children to develop reading skills early, Meyers said. It's about building a foundation for success.
"The more you read to a child, the more vocabulary words you'll introduce," she says. For example, words like "giraffe" and "rhinoceros" might not come up in everyday conversation, but children can be introduced to them through a book about animals.
Reading regularly to young children also helps them become comfortable around books.
"If they don't see a book until kindergarten, they're not going to be comfortable," Meyers says. Children then have to learn how to hold the book and that sentences are read from left to right and pages are read from top to bottom.
Reading to babies
While reading to babies, they will:Associate reading with warm, pleasant feelings.
Hear sounds, rhythms and words.
Use their senses — listening, seeing, touching.
Make their own sounds — cooing, gurgling, babbling — which will eventually become talking.
Point to pictures that you can name.
Begin to understand that pictures represent objects.
Choose books babies like
— Very young babies love to hear your voice. You can read anything to them, but they especially like nursery rhymes and other stories with set rhythms.
— Choose board books with simple, bright pictures against solid backgrounds.
— As babies learn to grasp things, pick light, washable cloth and vinyl books.
— When babies are old enough to hold things, provide brightly colored board books featuring only one or two objects per page.
— As babies become interested in what's inside a book, read books with bright pictures of animals, babies and familiar objects.
— As babies begin to do activities for themselves, read simple stories about routine events: eating, taking a bath, or going to bed.
— As babies begin to talk, read books that invite them to repeat rhymes, words and phrases.
— When older babies want to join in, read books with textures, things to touch, flaps to lift, tabs to pull and holes where they can poke their fingers.
— Babies of any age enjoy homemade books and family photo albums.
Source: Reading Is Fundamental (www.rif.org)
Reading with your child
- Look for books with clear and simple pictures.
- Choose a good time to read, when you and your child are relaxed and happy.
- Point to pictures. Talk about them in an exciting voice.
- Notice what your baby looks at, and talk about it. It is natural for babies to play with books, even to chew on them.
- Stop for a while when your baby loses interest or gets upset. A few enjoyable minutes at a time is better than a longer unhappy time together.
- Share books with your baby every day. Even a few minutes is important.
—Source: Phoenix Public Library