Before my sis gave birth to her 2 wonderful brats, she does
not read. The only thing she read back then was Cosmopolitan (so bimbo). But
since the arrivals of the 2 boys, she started reading anything from books on
how to take care of infants to 101 steps to change your baby diapers.
Subsequently as the boys grow up (when they start to understand and comprehend
human language at about age 1 to 2), she moves on to reading to the boys. Books
like Little Women, Heidi, Little Red Riding Hood (what the hell was my sis
thinking!!), Cinderella (seriously!!), Where the Wild Things Are, etc. And when they grew even older (when they
know how to rebuke and ask questions that you can’t answer, age 3 to 5), book
stores and library were the most frequent place my sis bring the boys. From age
6 onward you can see the boys had cultivated a strong interest in reading.
Out of curiosity on my sis sudden interest in reading when
the boys were born, I asked her about it. To which, she quote me the famous author,
Og Mandino (what the freak, trying to act scholarly). “You will be the same
person as you are 10 years from now; the only difference will be the books you
read and the people you meet”. Next she
looked me straight in the eyes and says, “My dear brother, if you don’t read,
you will be just like the Sun”. I was like “Huh, what you mean???” My sis with
a smirk smile (behaving like a wise and smart elder sister) replied “Always
rises from the east, no change”.
What kind of person makes this kind of analogy??!!
It is beneficial for
kids to have an interest in reading. It helps in building up their basic speech
skills, increases their communication ability, improve the logical thinking,
and also widen the children knowledge..etc (just to name a few). The only way
to nurture their interest is to start reading together with them. Start small
with picture books when they are infants and move on to reading children talesto them as they grow older. Make an effort to read together with them instead
of just passing the book to them and ask them to do so. And you will realize as
they grow older, the habit and interest just got stuck with them.
