Reading Habit has a crucial role to play
According to many educationists, it is but a recognized fact that a cultivated reading habit has a crucial role to play in creating independent learners, and a complete educational attainment of individuals in every society in the world. We see that normally , once a reading habit has been cultivated and developed, you have inherited it for life. You would never want to give it up for anything else in the world. Personally speaking my greatest pleasure is to visit a second hand book shop and spend an entire afternoon there browsing through the books on display, bringing home at least 2 or 3 books and of course read them !
Reading plays a paramount role in children's educational pursuit besides promoting a deep mental awareness and build the child up emotionally and intellectually. Similarly, voluntary reading habit benefit students in their academic achievements.
It is a known fact that children, read more when they see other people reading especially parents and their siblings. Parents have a great role to play in cultivating the reading habit in children and once a free reading is practiced by the child one can see a lot of positive results in their performance because it is known fact that people who read more, listen better write better . Reading as a leisure activity has many benefits since it improves comprehension, vocabulary and reading speed of students. All these qualities are required for a good student.
Improving reading habits among children
How does one do this ? As I wrote earlier most children take interest in books and cultivate a reading habit when they see their parents and siblings reading. However some children don’t cultivate the habit inspite of this, probably because they were exposed to books at a later age or the right kind of encouragement was not given to them during the formative years. So, it is better to inculcate reading habit, right from a tender age, so that children can imbibe it and once done so, it remains and grows in them as they grow up.. According to trained teachers it is much easier at this early stage to cultivate the reading habit since children's minds are like sponges, soaking up as much information and ideas as they are capable of. They also thirst for more knowledge whic becmes a life long search that helps them grow as intelligent and well balance individuals.
Several studies have revealed that when reading programs are used to promote reading in children, they take to it with interest and dedication and in no time become excellent readers. So it is a good idea to enrole children in reading classes and programs when they show a dislike for books and reading at early stages so that they develop voluntary reading habit. These days one gets to hear of many summer camps and many such summer camps now make it a part of their activity and parents should make use of such opportunities to get the maximum benefits for their little ones.
It is a fact that one cannot be literate without a cultivated reading habit. It is now considered as an important skill that a child needs to survive in the learning environment. Parents need to develop this skill and build upon it. It is in recognition of this that reading habit is being taught, promoted and advocated right from the early age of a child all over the world.
The importance of reading
1, Reading and its importance is quite incalculable. One can go so far as to say that it is one of the life's greatest pleasures that opens the door to culture, knowledge and independence. What we read gives us a soaring imagination, knowledge and also a sense of adventure and independence which we derive because of the self confidence that knowledge provides us.
2, Besides this it also makes us more perceptive to the world around us and through reading our knowledge base is enhanced our intellect sharpened and misconceptions eroded .For example :- If a person came to you and told you that dooms day prophecy is true , you would probably believe if you are not interested in reading and gaining knowledge. However, if you were one of those who is interested in reading you would analyse the fact by going deep into it and realsie that there is no basis to this prophecy.
3, According to many social thinkers reading program for children is particularly important to children coming from economically weak and less advantaged families, where books might not be readily available. So, parents should take advantage of public libraries and make sure to cultivate the habit since it is very effective tool in helping to close the achievement gap between rich and poor. A well performing child is admired by all regardless of his or her social and economic status.
4, A reading culture both inside and outside the four walls of the classroom is very essential when the children are growing up. Attention should be given to the early primary years when the students are taught to learn to read and read to learn at the same time.
5, It also helps to incorporate reading in different subject areas and languages. Reading should not only be done in English or Hindi or French Chinese but in any language the child feels comfortable in and also in various different subjects such as science, social studies, mathematics and general knowledge.
6, For students to read effectively, teachers should be able to teach students to use various reading strategies such as making connections to texts by making them visualize and by asking questions. Students may already be using some reading strategies and a good teacher should have the patience and insight to be aware of them and improvise on it. When students learn to read more complicated materials they need to use reading strategies purposefully and specifically. This is where a teacher is able to help students apply reading strategies, which also include things such as predicting, synthesizing, reading between the lines and determining the importance of what they are reading.
7, When children develop a reading habit, they also develop an interest in gramar and gramatical structures and accuarete spelling which makes them perform better in their studies. It also increases their vocabulary.
Some more facts
It has been told that those who read a lot are intelligent, imaginative and yet much more aware of their surroundings .Reading also sharpens our brain cells ( more so in young children since they are still fresh without any impressions) and make them active which is essential. The more you read, the more open and evolved you become in your thinking. One tends to view things differently as one gains more knowledge about people, places and other people’s behavior.This develops a person's imaginative skills and Reading definitely enhances a person’s thinking process- he/she becomes more aware of surroundings and understands things better.
One should not limit oneself where reading and gaining knowledge is concerned - reading in itself is gaining some knowledge.I was talking to a relative who is an old retired professor the other day, and he was telling me that after reading up almost everything during his life time, he is now reading comic books and tinkle books just out of curiosity, also local glossy magazines ( bought at home by his grand children) and find them entertaining no doubt but so shallow.If one has a genuine interest in books , one automatically would like to explore various fields and gain knowledge.One of course has the choice to either use it or reject it.
Another noteworthy point is that a person who is well read has many advantages in life. He/she is able to make changes and adjustments when necessary depending on the situation using the intelligence and knowledge gained. Most people seem to think that fiction has no positive contribution to make, but I strongly disagree because one needs intelligence and knowledge to write even fiction. What we read does make a difference, but reading anything is better than not reading at all. Once the reading habit develops, sometimes people become choosy ,they tend to think that only some subject matters are worth reading - I personally feel that there is knowledge everywhere and in everything. When you try to limit yourself to any one subject , you become the loser and may find that you are unable to converse freely on those subjects that are unknown to you.So being a jack of all is better than being a perfectionist in any one subject!
Most children who read a lot are more intelligent and do better in studies and later in their career as well. Of course there are many arguments such as to whether an intelligent person is automatically attracted to books or whether books make them intelligent – one can never say for sure ! However we can say that a person develops a well rounded personality and becomes more knowledgeable and thereby more interesting when he/she has cultivated the reading habit !
Conclusions
Knowledge is unlimited and the more you read the more you want to learn about things. A voracious reader is forever looking for more subject matters and more reading material. We see children play acting some of the comic characters they read from books thereby giving expression to their imagination. It is also a fact that those children who read a lot and have developed an interest in books are also well mannered and caring towards others. Childhood memories can last a life time , that’s why it is the duty of the parents to make it as productive and happy as possible.
Most parents discourage children from reading other books other than their text books ( which most students consider as drab and inspid ) mainly because they themselves are not aware of the importance of books and reading. Such parents not only destroy childrens love for books and reading, but also may turn them into rebels in later life.
Finally we must remember that parental support is crucial when it comes to education and reading and there has to be ongoing collaboration between family and school. Parents for all purpose remain the first educators of children and teachers take over and continue the process in facilitating the process of learning in their students.