WELCOME TO OUR PARENTS' CORNER
The early years are critical to developing a lifelong love of reading. You can't start reading to a child too soon!
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Read together every day.
Read to your child every day. Make this a warm and loving time when the two of you can cuddle close together. Bedtime is an especially great time for reading together.
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Give everything a name.
You can build comprehension skills early, even with the littlest child. Play games that involve naming or pointing to objects. Say things like, "Where's your nose?" and then, "Where's Mommy's nose?" Or touch your child's nose and say, "What's this?"
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Say how much you enjoy reading together.
Tell your child how much you enjoy reading with him or her. Look forward to this time you spend together. Talk about "story time" as the favorite part of your day.
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Read with fun in your voice.
Read to your child with humor and expression. Use different voices for different characters. Ham it up!
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Know when to stop.
If your child loses interest or has trouble paying attention, just put the book away for a while. Don't continue reading if your child is not enjoying it.
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Be interactive.
Engage your child so he or she will actively listen to a story. Discuss what's happening, point out things on the page, and answer your child's questions. Ask questions of your own and listen to your child's responses.
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Read it again and again and again.
Your child will probably want to hear a favorite story over and over. Go ahead and read the same book for the 100th time! Research suggests that repeated readings help children develop language skills.
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Talk about writing, too.
Draw your child's attention to the way writing works. When looking at a book together, point out how we read from left to right and how words are separated by spaces.
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Point out print everywhere.
Talk about the written words you see in the world around you and respond with interest to your child's questions about words. Ask him or her to find a new word every time you go on an outing.
Guidelines For Parent Child Relationships
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Try to set a side time on a regular basis to do something fun with your child.
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Never disagree about discipline in front of the children.
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Never give an order, request, or command without being able to enforce it at the time.
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Be consistent, that is, reward or punish the same behavior in the same manner as much as possible.
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Agree on what behavior is desirable and not desirable.
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Agree on how to respond to undesirable behavior.
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Make it as clear as possible what the child is to expect if he or she performs the undesirable behavior.
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Make it very clear what the undesirable behavior is. It is not enough to say, “Your room is messy.” Messy should be specified in terms of exactly what is meant: “You’ve left dirty clothes on the floor, dirty plates on your desk, and your bed is not made.”
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Once you have stated your position and the child attacks that position, do not keep defending yourself. Just restate the position once more and then stop responding to the attacks.
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Look for gradual changes in behavior. Don’t expect too much. Praise behavior that is coming closer to the desired goal.
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Remember that your behavior serves as a model for your children’s behavior.
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If one of you is disciplining a child and the other enters the room, that other person should not step in on the argument in progress.
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Reward desirable behavior as much as possible by verbal praise, touch or something tangible such as a toy, food or money.
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Both of you should have an equal share in the responsibility of discipline as much as possible.
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