SFSUX

I was once a librarian. That was one year I can never forget. Some time in 1968, when I was a graduate student in the U.S., I had the opportunity to work as a librarian in a special school, the Rackham School at Eastern Michigan University. It was a small library with about 300 children’s books and a file box. But what struck me most was that it was an empty library. The children did not come to read. Understandably so, because there was no one to care for this library. This was a challenge to my creativity How could I make this a meaningful place for young children? I thought that first, I must go out and meet the children. I brought along some interesting storybooks and went to their classrooms and read to them. Now they knew that someone did care for their books and that started the flow of varied personalities into the little library.
The library flourished and pretty soon the children got so hooked on the books that fights would break out among them over the reading materials. It was a memorable year for me, not only because I had succeeded in drawing the youngsters to the place, but also because they eventually learned to enjoy reading.
As a parent, you may ask yourself, “how can I encourage my children to read?” The answer to this question is to excite their curiosity. When you make a child aware of his surroundings, he becomes an inquirer; he becomes curious, and wants to learn more. I think this is the first step to reading. When you go outdoors, elicit observations from the children and share some of your own. When thus challenged, their minds start to think. I think TV becomes a hindrance because it doesn’t allow a child to ask questions or become sensitive to their environment. Television, in many ways, does the thinking for children. And we must be aware that TV competes with reading time. Once curiosity is aroused, children will want to know more. And a good way to find out more, is to read a book. Many times, we may not find the answer we are seeking, but books always have a way of introducing you to other experiences. It is like the yellow pages — you don’t have to go far when “you walk the yellow pages”. Reading not only teaches you how to gather facts, but also helps you experience other ways of thinking. But before one can cultivate a zest for reading in the child, we must first make a quick check on the child’s health — if there are any physical or psychological obstacles to reading.
To check his eyesight, ask the child to name the pictures on the wall. To check for hearing, call out his name and see if he responds. Does he look straight at you when you talk to him or does he incline his ear towards your voice? Is the child emotionally well? Many times, children with psychological problems cannot concentrate on a story. Listening or reading becomes difficult for them. When all these factors are fine, work on attitude building. This is most important with young children. It is not memorizing a story that matters, rather it is learning to appreciate literature. When we read a good poem or story a day to a child, this will certainly encourage him to want to learn to read on his own. Reading builds writers. To further encourage reading as well as writing, let children draw or illustrate their own life stories. Do not as much as possible, correct errors. Criticism at this early stage may discourage him from expressing his innermost thoughts and feelings as well as from experimenting with his new found skill. We have not reached that stage where we can be truly called a “nation of readers”. As the more responsible members of society — we can start by being ourselves curious about what lies between a book’s covers. We will surely be convinced about the good value of books when we observe our young children enjoying storytelling and wanting to read and read and read. At that point, it would be safe to say they will be ready for the world.