Find stories and books children enjoy reading to encourage them to stick with a book. Parents can plan trips to the library to help children pick out a variety of books they may be interested in. After a child has read a number of books, he and his parents can better know what kind of books and stories interest him to help with future book choices.
Chicago Public Schools recommends encouraging children to make a list of their favorite books, write reviews and give talks on the stories they most enjoy.
Reading to a child can help improve her literacy skills. Literacy at School and Home, at George Mason University, suggests parents take a child's finger and use it to follow the lines of a book as it is read to her. However, telling a story from a book is not the only way to engage in this activity. The American Initiative on Reading and Writing, otherwise known as Read Write Now!, advises moms and dads to tell their kids family tales about their own lives or the lives of the child's grandparents. The organization explains that this activity helps kids understand that stories come from real people, while also encouraging them to hear the narrator's voice when reading alone.
Listening to children read is good for kids for several reasons. Read Write Now! explains kids like the knowledge that someone appreciates their development, while taking notice of a youngster's reading skills can provide opportunities for moms and dads to help children when they have trouble. The association recommends parents assist kids when they struggle by telling children to skip words they cannot read and move on to the rest of the sentence, then try to work out what word would make the most sense in the gap that's left.
Chicago Public Schools recommends moms and dads encourage children to write something meaningful, such as a journal, allowing them to write about what they enjoy. Meanwhile, Read Write Now! suggests having kids write letters, as this helps them understand the relevance of literacy to their own lives and how important it is for communication. For instance, a child could write a thank-you letter to a relative for a gift or tell the relatives she enjoyed seeing them during a recent visit. For children who have not yet learned to write, a parent can have the child dictate her thoughts and write it down for her.
Literacy at Home recommends encouraging children to copy phrases and sentences they like, for instance, they may jot down the words to their favorite song. Other sources of writing material could come from poems or stories. In this case, kids could copy what they see in the book.