READING RESOURCES

Digital Reading Resources vs Traditional Reading Resources

The digital world has amazing reading resources. True, children spend a lot of time with gadgets these days and to present reading resources on the tablets is not welcome. Something to ponder about is why we would like to restrict the use of gadgets. Possible reasons are that children spend a lot of time on gadgets, which results in limited physical activity, possibility of the eyes getting strained etc. Reading a physical book also has these disadvantages suggesting that it is a good thing if children are not reading!

Children must learn the concept of ‘balance’. The time available in the day must be planned in such way that everything that is important for a child, both from the perspective of the parent as well as child, have sufficient time. If one activity is stepping into another and in the process making very little time for the other, the result is imbalance that does not end well. Studying too much without play is bad. Too much play with very little study is also bad. Play, reading for pleasure, studies, helping with chores at home, each activity needs ample time. Enabling children to plan their day to attain ‘balance’ is an essential lesson in time management that will hold them in good stead. I can sense many parents thinking, “ah if only that was so simple! My kids don’t listen to me!” Very true. Even the most well behaved of children don’t make parenting easy. Who said parenting is easy?

I would like to share three extremely good resources in the digital world.

Pratham Storyweaver: This is an initiative of Pratham publishing- an endeavour that is managed by Rohini Nilekani. It is an excellent resource that has 4 reading levels and what’s more, stories are available in many languages, both Indian and Foreign! And it is free!
GETEPIC is an online library app that is subscription based. Every week, new books in different genres are added. Many award winning books have appeared on the app, making it possible to read books for a fraction of a cost. Many of these books are terribly expensive, if you want to buy them.
Storylineonline is a website that features beautiful books that are read aloud by well known actors from Hollywood. If you are too tired to read a bedtime story, this website is a saviour! https://www.storylineonline.net

How to inculcate the love for reading among kids?

You might have heard several times that kids imitate adults. This is true of reading too. They must see you reading. It can be anything, a newspaper, a magazine, a book. Anything that excites you.
Read with your child. The sooner you start the better. Reading together must be an activity that both of you look forward to. It is something has to be done everyday just like eating or drinking water.
Explore books together. Get excited when you find something really interesting. Observe illustrations together, talk about it before going to the text.
The “Learning to Read” phase is difficult and can steal the joy of reading from a child. It is important to remember that reading is a difficult skill and takes time to master.
Read the books that your child reads once he or she begins to read independently. Discuss those books, ask if you don’t understand something. They love it. They feel important. Refer my blog https://merrygobooks.com/2019/04/08/is-your-child-old-enough-to-read-but-still-insists-that-you-read-should-you-be-worried/ for more information.
If your child dislikes a book, drop it, move on. Reading for pleasure means it is OK to drop a book and move on.
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