Parents, anxious to get their young child to read, often ask when and how to start. Here are some tips for making it a joyful experience for everyone and not a chore or a fight.

If you enjoy reading and regularly read to your child, there’s a good chance your child will also love reading. For preschoolers these are the most important things you can do…

  •  Enjoy reading with your child.
  • Make sure books that interest your child are easily accessible to them. Sounds obvious but just make sure there are books about things your child likes, in a place they can reach on their own. Any topic your child is drawn to: dinosaurs, animals, trucks, trees, etc.
  • Let your child see you reading your books. Young children admire and want to emulate their parents.

The link below is a previous post about a fun way to work on pre-reading skills…

https://ivyartz.com/blog/blogpost.php?permalink=using-picture-cards-for-language-development-

Things to keep in mind as your child starts to read. Some parents worry their child isn’t reading as early as another child they know. Reading is not a competitive sport. Unless you have reason to believe there is a specific learning disability, relax. Everyone learns to read a different time. There are gender, age, and cultural differences. Your child is learning so much every day, and right now your child’s brain might be focused on physical or social skills. Just keep reading fun.

Some children who are pushed to read early, work hard to please their parents. This is a flash card/workbook alert. A little is fun, but constant pushing can lead children to hate reading. Some early readers stop reading later in elementary school just as everyone else is starting to enjoy chapter books.

No need to put undue stress on you or your child. If your child has a learning disability—we are living at a great time. There are so many resources available and many books. For example, if your child has dyslexia there are books like the HANK series by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver that use a font called Dyslexie which is designed to make reading easier.

If reading is on your list of worries, you may enjoy this informative article…

https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/young-children-reading/