Reading is one of my favorite pastimes, and my wife and I have tried pretty successfully to expose Nicholas to various books and magazines -- reading them to him when he was a baby, and now helping and encouraging him to read on his own.
The more children read, the better they become at reading. Educators will tell you it's that simple. The more enjoyable the things children read are, the more they'll stick with them. The challenging part could be finding things for your child to read that will make it pleasurable. For Nicholas, it started with dinosaurs. He loved collecting stuffed dinosaurs, watching them on T.V. and now reading about them in various books.
Experts say reading to young children is just as important. Even now, with my son who is almost 8 years old and is a pretty good reader, he still enjoys being read to from time to time. Reading out loud exposes him to proper grammar and phrasing. It can also enhance their development of their spoken language skills, and their ability to express themselves verbally.
Here's the most important point. Reading can be fun for children, providing endless hours of entertainment. Stories can free up the imagination, and open up exciting new worlds of fantasy -- like dinosaurs. My hope is that for Nicholas, he's on the road to viewing reading as a life-long source of pleasure.
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