People said that once I had a baby, I wouldn’t have time to read anymore; which didn’t exactly turn out to be true. What actually happened was that I struggled to find time to read to my son, T. Rex. As the kind of person who reads 50 books a year, I made it my personal mission to ensure T. Rex would read at least three a day. After all, The American Academy of Pediatricians recommends that “doctors prescribe reading activities along with other advice given to parents at regular check-ups.” Wanting T. Rex to love reading as much as I do was part of it, but more importantly, I thought that the benefits of reading were just too good to be neglected.
The first phase of my social experiment: “Get T. Rex to Love Reading” started with a search for suitable material. Finding good books proved to be quite a hard thing to do, when you are picky like I am, about endings. I wanted to stay away from the traditional happy ending found in typical stories for children, because I don’t believe real life is anything like that. As idealistic as I am, I didn’t want all of T. Rex’s books to have happy endings. Instead I found clever and funny endings with award-winning authors like Jon Klassen, and his hits, I Want My Hat Back and This Is Not My Hat. Another favorite I found was Green, by Laura Vaccaro Seeger; for its artistic illustrations, an underlying message about the environment and no real “end.” Take the time to look for the right books, with messages you agree with and want to pass onto your child. I for one, felt overwhelmed at the children’s section of Kinokunya (one of the best spots to get titles in town), so ordering online was a better option for me.
Like most parents, I had previously thought television helps with language acquisition, and was surprised to find out that it was actually children who were read to by their parents, who were able to increase their vocabulary by up to 40%. Most kids books are so easy, it takes literally less than five minutes to get through one. Straightaway, I instated a “Reading Time” for T. Rex every morning where I would read him one book, before leaving for work. I then instructed his caregivers (his grandma and our helper), to read him two more (pre-selected by me), during the day. It only takes these little pockets of time, but I believe his ability to use “rare words” will skyrocket later in life, as a result of this simple but important practice.
At four months old, T. Rex isn’t the greatest conversationalist, I’ll be honest – so reading to him from whatever book I’m reading at the time, solves the problem of knowing what to say to him. I make sure to read even the ‘boring’ (to a baby anyway) content, with creativity and imagination. Switching accents, emphasizing different words and phrases, and making it all sound like the most interesting stuff ever. Then there are days where we just go through the IKEA catalogue and discuss the different room layouts, furniture designs and colours on one engaging page after another. T. Rex tunes in, focuses, follows my finger as I point, and watches my facial expressions as I read. Jim Trelease writes in his book, The Read-Aloud Handbook, that if you pour enough words into the ‘reservoir’ inside your child’s ear, it will overflow and be words poured into his speaking vocabulary. Another ‘overflow’ will hopefully be into T. Rex’s creativity as reading also forces a child to create his own images in his mind. I tried to remember that it was less about reading just the words in the book, and more about explaining things and ultimately make the book seem as engaging and entertaining as possible. Only then, will T. Rex want to pay attention and hopefully learn to appreciate reading as much as I do.
I don’t know exactly when the fruit of my reading to T. Rex will show itself, but I do believe that it is up to me to give him an enthusiasm for reading and a love for books. If you think your baby is too young to read to, I’d like to encourage you to try it anyway. Read at least one book together, every single day and before you know it – you could have a toddler begging for books, on your hands. I for one can’t wait to see if T. Rex grows to love reading as much as I do as a result of the ways we’ve made it fun and engaging for him now.
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Michelle Lim-Chua is a banana born in New York City, who fell in love with a boy from Melaka and became a mama of one.
