Reading has always been one of the most important skills kids learn in school, but too many people don’t read past the end of the page when they grow up. It’s essential to keep reading as much as possible, both for entertainment and to keep your mind sharp. Here are some tips from an Ashfield child care centre to help improve your child’s reading skills, so they continue the habit into adulthood.

Create a Reading Routine:

It’s important that your child establishes a daily reading routine. If they read for 20 minutes each night, your child is much more likely to improve their skills and achieve academic success. Make sure you set aside time in your child’s schedule every day for reading, regardless of whether there are school assignments due or not. Simply put, your child should read daily to enhance the skill.

Read to Your Children:

You may have heard it time and again, but a few minutes of reading aloud every day is one of the most important habits you can teach your children. Showing them how engaging books can be will help foster a love for literature and improve their vocabulary while they’re young. It’s important that you read out loud (even if it’s just for a minute), so your child knows that reading is something to enjoy, not just something adults do when they have spare time.

Monitor Your Child’s Progress:

It can be difficult to watch your child struggle with reading, and even harder if you suspect that there may be a learning disability at play. But it is important for parents to keep tabs on their child’s progress, in order to make sure that he or she is actually understanding what they read and comprehending new words. Discuss with a teacher at a child care Ashfield centre if you need any assistance.

Encourage More Reading Outside of Books:

The most obvious way for your child to get reading practice is, of course, by reading books. But as a parent, you can go beyond that. There are many other ways to incorporate reading into your child’s life without making it seem like homework. When you read newspapers or magazines together and talk about what interests you or doesn’t interest you, that’s an easy way for your child to take in information without even realising it. The experts at a child care Ashfield highly recommend parents to try this technique.

Family Reading Time:

While you may not be able to instil a love of literature within them, you can help nurture it by having family reading time, anywhere from 5-20 minutes each day. Have your child read aloud to you. Ask them questions about what they’re reading and engage with their responses. Discuss books together when you’re done reading. This will be fun and engaging!

The first step in raising a literate child is making sure they’re exposed to as much reading material as possible, particularly during their formative years. If you haven’t, enrol your kids in a good early learning Ashfield program that will only help them even further.