Habits that will help your child during school days
Your child need not be someone having a high IQ to succeed in life especially during his school days; Yes, he needs to develop the right habits to be successful. Habits that can be so easily developed if you so decide to help him or her to do so.
One of the most important habits is the “Reading Habit.” Babies as young as 6 months when read to by parents, tend to become voracious readers as they grow.Beginning early is important because the roots of language are developing in a baby’s brain even before he or she can talk and the more words your baby hears over time, the more words he or she will learn.
Reading simple stories catch their attention. Books with big, colorful pictures especially with animals and other familiar things have been found to interest little ones who are yet to learn to read by themselves.
Reading Time turns to We Time; we, as in- the parent and the child. ‘We time’ is as important as ‘Me time’ for the emotional development of the child. Today ’EQ’ is as important as ‘IQ’. One’s emotional intelligence and social intelligence are much greater determinants of the success one will achieve in life.Spending quality time reading and talking to your child, gives the child the feeling of being loved and being wanted thereby instilling a sense of security which in turn helps develop the child’s self-confidence.
Asking questions, where your child can point out to the picture as the answer, when the spoken language is not completely developed or answering in one word will pave the way for developing listening skills an important aspect of learning.
By the age of two you can ask the five ‘W’ questions- what, when, where, why and who (a few thinking questions) and even relate it to your child’s day. If you are reading at night and the story character was playing you can connect the same and ask your child ‘What did you do this evening or What games did you play today?’
When the child is admitted to nursery, these skills will make it easier for him or her to adapt to the school environment.
Making connections between the book and your child’s daily activities will foster healthy bonding between the parent and the child. By three years of age your tiny tot may even repeat the story looking at the pictures. Doing this develops memory skills another important aspect that will help your child to be successful at school. Don’t be surprised if your little one has favorite story that he or she would want you to read over and over again. At the end of Senior KG your child will now be able to read simple story books with one or two lines on each page.
As your child graduates to Grade 1 and enters the Primary section this habit of having a fixed time and place for reading will slowly translate to sitting in a fixed place at a fixed time to revise the work done in class or to do homework. This study habit- is another habit that needs to be inculcated right from the start for a successful school life. More about ‘Study Habits’ in our next blog… Till then have a ‘Happy Reading We Time’ with your child.
