Books enrich children's vocabulary and contribute to their understanding and concentration. They help children develop behavioral principles, learn about the world, broaden their imagination, and confront their emotional world.

Without a doubt, books are very valuable to children's development. We, the parents, know this and make sure to read to our children stories regularly. The question is: how can we really make complete use of the advantages of reading? How can we help our children enjoy the world of fable and also learn from the stories to enrich their world? How can they get out of the book everything possible, especially in cases of ADHD or different levels of learning difficulties?

In honor of "Book Week", presented before you is a list of tips for reading books to children, from Rotem Shapiro, a doctoral student at the School of Education of Tel-Aviv University and a book-reading workshop leader for "Nitzan Baby" of Nitzan.

            Remember: Reading a Book is Quality Time

This is time just for you and your children. Free up time for reading a book and leave behind all the daily troubles. Find a time that you can get away from the "here and now" and wander together with your children to another world, the world of the book. Create for your children an experience just from the very reading of the book. Choose the right place for reading; maybe the bedroom or another corner in the house and let the children sit on your lap if their interested. Keep eye contact with them at the time of reading, touch and caress them and vary the tone of your voice. It's important that the children enjoy the experience so that they will look forward to the next time you read them a story.

            Choose Stories that are Appropriate

Try reading books to your children that allow them to be active participants when you're reading, such as books with a continual plot and a clear series of events. Make sure that the story is appropriate for the children's age, language, world, and to the subjects that they can connect to emotionally. Don't forget how the children are feeling at the time too. When they're tired - choose short, simple stories or make do with just turning the pages and looking at the pictures. When they're alert, you can vary, taking more time reading and allowing the children to turn the pages by themselves, telling themselves the story and even "dialogue reading" where you read the book together with active participation of the children, giving them a part in the reading.

            Speak with Your Children About the Story

Open a conversation with your children about the book as you read. Create a dialogue with them; in this setting the children have an opportunity to practice and feel confidence. Ask them questions and invite them to talk about the content of the story or the pictures. Bring the characters of the story to life and compare them to figures or places that the children know from their life. Choose details from the story that can be used in the day-to-day life of the children and talk with your children about different events that are related to the content of the story. Praise them on participating and giving answers. If the children have difficulty, then help them reach the correct answers by turning their attention to accompanying pictures or other hints.

It's also possible to add information and expand the children's answers. For example, the parent and children are looking at a book that on one of its pages is a drawing of a fire truck. The parent can point to the truck and ask, "What's this?" Almost certainly the children will answer "a truck". The role of the parent is to reinforce and add for example, "That's right, this is a truck, a red fire truck for putting out fires. When there's a fire, the truck comes and helps put out the fire."

Take advantage of the conversation that develops with the children about the reading to enrich them in a number of fields:

Teach the Child New Words

Take advantage of the rich language of books in order to expand your children's vocabulary. Teach them new words that they don't know from day-to-day language. Explain difficult words that aren't understood. Demonstrate and illustrate with your voice, body movement, and the drawings in the book. Go back and ask your children about those words that you explained to them so that the children can practice and remember them.

Practicing and exercising verbal expression help improve fluency and clarity in speech. You can encourage your children to place the word they learned in a sentence that they each think of on their own. You can also ask the children to explain the sentences they came up with - in their own words in order to strengthen the semantic connection to the synonym. The child's vocabulary has a great influence on his/her thinking and understanding.

Relate to the Plot and Structure of the Story

The more that your children understand the structure of the story, the more they will be able to learn how to organize sequence, to understand cause and effect, to understand the events of a story in depth, and to be able to tell stories themselves. The role of the parent is to encourage conversation with their children: to connect between events, to ask open questions (what? why?) about the plot, the characters, and the relations between the characters.

Go back and read over and over again the stories that your children like.

Children enjoy greatly hearing the same story they know a number of times. Repeated listening of the familiar story gives them a feeling of security. Repeating the story, the sounds, and the familiar rhythm allow the children to remember the plot and their own rhythm. The children can be more active during the reading. We, as parents, will be able to deepen our attention more in the plot, the characters, and the language. In every book, and mainly in a familiar and loved one, we can allow the children to tell the story from their memory.

This opportunity is a welcomed exercise in language, memory, and relying on drawings. It helps the children relate to the important details, understand the story better, and of course, tell stories themselves.

Arouse Your Children's Curiosity for the Written Language

Books contribute to the development of the buds of literacy. The concept of "buds of literacy" stresses the developmental aspect of the acquisition of reading and writing skills. When speaking about behaviors and talents that are connected to reading and writing, we first speak about the learning process of formally acquiring the ability to read and write in school. When you're reading a story it's important to arouse the children's curiosity regarding literacy and to transmit to them that it's an enjoyable thing, a type of game.

How is it possible to do this? For example, relating to sounds and rhymes in the story can be done by filling in sounds from the story. You can relate to the name of the book and how it's written on the cover. It's also worthwhile to read to the children the name of the author and the illustrator.

Learning Letters and Words

It's a good idea that the parent who is reading should point out the reading direction with his/her finger: point on the words that repeat themselves and help the child identify the way common words appear like: yes, no, father, mother.

The book is an excellent opportunity to teach the children the names of the letters and the connection between the sound and the letter, and the way words break down into syllables and sounds. Even though there is an approach that claims that there is no need to rush the children because the children will learn anyway to read and write in school; but, nevertheless, the more that the "buds of literacy" are developed at an early age, the learning of reading and writing will be easier when the day comes to learn them at school.

Attention and Concentration

Invest in the ability of your children to pay attention and concentrate. Children learn to concentrate and to be active participants when you're reading, when the books become a part of their daily routine. In this way the children's concentration range lengthens and improves, they become curious and want to know and to learn. Therefore, make sure to be consistent in reading your children's stories. Similarly, give them a personal example for paying attention during a story and how you disconnect from outside noises and from things that aren't relevant to the book.

General Knowledge

Develop your children's general knowledge, their imagination, and the richness of their thought: from time to time choose books that can serve as a learning tool about the world in which we live (for example: colors, animals, days of the week, and more). Treat books like a tool that develops the children's thinking and enriches their imagination. Together with the children, travel in your imaginations to other worlds. In the world of books, animals can talk, the moon dances, the child flies. Everything is possible! Develop a conversation with your children and give them freedom to explore their imaginary world.

Emotions

Talk with your children about emotions and social experiences that are mentioned in the book: many books arouse emotions, self-identification, and social conscience. In fact, most children's books deal with relationships between characters (animals or people), in daily situations, with emotions, with needs, and with thoughts. By means of the stories, the children are exposed to topics that they are dealing with and they receive tools to cope with inner conflicts, for example, the birth of a brother or the transition to the first grade.

When you're reading the story to your children you, the parents, can talk with them about emotions and needs and even make a connection between characters and experiences in the book and between the lives of the child (for example, "you also felt sad yesterday. Why did you feel sad?"). You can explain to them about rules of friendly behavior and on the result of actions that are made. With the help of the connection between the plot of the story to the world of the children you will encourage them to confront the variety of their different emotions. The children that will be exposed to these very feelings through the plot of the story will understand that also others experience difficulties and different social situations and emotions, and they not unusual.

In summary, reading a story is a pleasant recreational activity. It brings the parent and children closer and enriches their relationship. It's an activity that allows integration between forming a piece of artwork (a story) and between conversations - dialogue between the parent and their children, and it has a great significance to the cognitive development, emotional and social of the children.

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