Comment by LinaLauneBaer
14 hours ago
Honest question and maybe it's because I grew up without books… What values do books have if you cannot read? I started to learn how to read at 6. Are those picture only books?
14 hours ago
Honest question and maybe it's because I grew up without books… What values do books have if you cannot read? I started to learn how to read at 6. Are those picture only books?
No they are not picture-only books. They have simple stories, which are for parents to read to their children. Reading stories to children before they can read is a very, very old tradition :) (think fairy tales)
(edit - you've gotten several responses but I will say that you are correct that this sort of thing does not happen in all households; that's one reason this program is great, because it encourages this behavior)
One of the best ways to help children learn to read is to read to them, a lot.
That alone won’t teach them to read, but it will help them a lot as they work through learning.
My kids have been “learning” to read since they were born and my oldest started reading on his own at age 4-5. I didn’t push him to read at all, he surprised me when he started telling me what the signs along the road said.
My younger hasn’t taken to it quite as fast but he’s right where he should be for his age, but we read at least three books to him every day at bedtime. I still read to my older one every day (we’ve read LotR twice), even though he’s plenty capable on his own.
> That alone won’t teach them to read
Oh yes it can. It won’t teach phonics, which is a very valuable skill especially in English, but my biggest struggle with phonics was that I could already read the words they were trying to use to teach us how to sound things out. Kids vary but some will already be picking up written words by 2-3 and self-guided by 5-6. Reading the same book every night is tedious to parents but really lets the kids connect shapes on paper to language.
Fair enough, I didn’t want to over sell it though.
Not to be snarky, yes picture books, but also, adults do often read books to children.
My parents never did. Now I wish they did.
Well here’s the problem. Honestly your question sounded insane to me and worthy of ridicule, and now I just feel sad. I’m sorry they didn’t do that for you :(
Someone, typically a parent of guardian, reads them to you while showing you the words. After reading the story, they might go back and walk you through each word, how it's said, and its meaning.
Not only do a lot of kids learn like this, but for instance the little Polish that I know how to speak and read I learned like this as an adult with the help of a native speaker.
Oh wow. My parents never did this. I thought its something they only do in the movies…
That kinda breaks my heart. I loved my kids curled up in my lap while I read them their favorite stories. I wish every parent and child had that shared experience, and I'm truly sorry you didn't.
If it comes to pass that you have little ones of your own, please don't let that be something your kids only see in the movies. Make that your own new family tradition.
Are you implying there’s a chicken-and-egg problem with books? How are you supposed to learn how to read without written material?
No. I am not implying a chicken and egg problem. If you generally start to learn how to read with 6 what would do get from a book between the age 0-5 when you cannot read? In another thread someone explained that usually parents "read" the book to the child - child answered my question. My parents never read books to me so I did not know this was common.
There's no reason to wait until a child is six to teach them to read. I was reading much earlier, before formal schooling, because my parents were readers and read to me regularly. I had a tremendous enthusiasm for books because books were important to my parents.
Plenty of research indicates reading to kids from a very young age improves their education outcomes later in life.
I'm sorry your parents didn't know to do that. Hopefully now that you know, you'll read to your kids (if/when you have any).
2 replies →
I don’t remember my father teaching me to read but he was an avid reader and I was reading well before six. When I in the third grade I won the library summer reading contest - I read all my books and all my sister’s books (she was in first grade) - I read like 60 books, my sister 20 and the high school winner ten :) We moved and had a bookmobile at our new location and I would get a paper grocery bag of books every week.