6 Tips for Teaching Your Child To Read

Did you start to sweat when you read the title of this blog? Well, we hope to give you some pointers to take some stress out of teaching your child to read. Yes, it can be difficult and time consuming, but the payoff is well worth it.

Reading is one of the most important skills you can teach your kids. With the internet, apps, and an endless selection of books at your fingertips, teaching your child to read has gotten much easier and more fun for parents and children. In fact, studies show that children begin enjoying and excelling in school earlier as they develop reading skills. Here are our top five tips for parents (and summertime is the great time to start)!

Reading aloud is the best way to introduce someone to a new language. We encourage parents to start reading stories out loud as soon as the baby is born. As silly as this may seem, even infants start to become familiar with words the more they hear them. So, read them a bedtime story every night and you'll see the benefits as they grow and start learning to read themselves.

We encourage parents to start introducing their children to letter recognition between the ages of 2 - 3 years old. Children that can recognize the letters in the alphabet are more capable of making sense of the information they receive from a parent or teacher. Imagine a child that has never seen the letter "A" being asked the question, "What sound does the letter A make?" They would have no point of reference and the learning process would be less effective.

There is no shortage of mobile apps to give your child a head start with reading. The most effective apps encourage interactive learning such as tracing letters or moving the appropriate letters in to blank spaces to complete the spelling of a word. A good starting point is to find an app that teaches your child the many different sounds used in the English language. Two of our favorite apps are Jolly Phonics Adventure from Jolly Learning LTD and Endless Alphabet from Originator Inc.

For some parents, hiring a specialist kids tutor could be the way forward when it comes to teaching reading. This could be especially appropriate for non-English speaking parents who need extra help from a fluent speaker. Online tutors are specifically trained in teaching young learners and know exactly what they need to do in order to develop properly. There are online language learning platforms with hundreds of teachers, so parents have plenty of options when it comes to areas such as price. Parents can choose a tutor based on their short bio, and they can also see how many active students they have. Using a reading tutor could be best for kids who need to practice their skills with an expert speaker. It is also useful for parents who don't have much time to help their kids.

Once children have an understanding of reading and are able to comprehend full sentences, it is imperative that parents buy the right books for them to use at their level. Following a reading program is the best way to help kids rise up the levels gradually. There are a number of fantastic online reading programs that parents can choose from to follow. These include options like Headsprout Kids Reading Program, Book Adventure, and ABCMouse Early Learning Academy.

One final point to make is that parents should remember to be role models when encouraging their children to read. From a young age, kids look up to the adults that they’re closest to and replicate a vast number of their behaviors. This is called modeling, and it's something that we are innately programmed to do. Some parents are shocked the first time they witness their child mirroring their behavior, and this brings it home to them how important it is to set a good example.

With that in mind, if you spend most of your time looking at a phone rather than a book, what do you think your children are going to want to do? If they desire to be like you, they will also pick up the smartphone. However, if they witness you reading a lot of the time, they will be intrigued about this activity and will want to do the same. In order to ensure that children can witness these behaviors, it would be a great idea to schedule a reading period every day and get into the habit of reading as a family.

Learning to read is an exciting time for kids and parents, and thanks to the internet there are so many ways for children to get off to a great start. Parents should remember that they should never force, and reading should always be something that is fun for the child. If they see it as a chore, they are unlikely to want to keep practicing.