Your toddler is fussing for you to buy her something at the store. You're tempted to get her a book. After all, a book is better than candy, right? Perhaps … but good books nourish the mind just as good food nourishes the body.
To decide what to serve your tot, read the labels! Look for stickers on covers (and on the boxes of videos and CDs) to locate winners of the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, the Caldecott Medal, the Coretta Scott King Award, the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, the Newbery Medal, and the Parent's Choice Awards.
To find quality books for your child, you need to do your homework! Check the American Library Association Web site. Or try the following:
Read Kirkus and Booklist reviews in the book section of big-city newspapers.
Check editorial and customer reviews at the Barnes & Noble Web site and on Amazon.com.
Ask children's librarians for recommendations — they're experts!
See if your bookstore has a section for award-winning children's literature.
Research shows that reading to toddlers translates into better reading ability in elementary school; reading ability in elementary school is a prime predictor of school success; and school success is a predictor of lifelong achievement, occupational success, and overall life satisfaction.
Reading to tots provides great intellectual stimulation and teaches vocabulary. However, what matters most at this age is instilling a love of reading. To choose books:
Identify your tot's special interests, be it dogs, dinosaurs, doctors, or dust.
Get books with sturdy cardboard or plastic pages so young toddlers can “read” without damaging the pages and older children can tote them about without destroying their tomes.
Look for books with exceptionally large print; although toddler vision is about the same as adults', some studies suggest bigger is better for learning to read at an early age.
Between 12 and 18 months, tots begin to enjoy simple stories (though they don't often want to hear them from front to back; they spend most of the time studying the pictures), so get a mixture of board and regular books. For holiday gift giving, suggest relatives add a good volume of nursery rhymes, an alphabet book, and a counting book to add to your child's permanent collection.
Budding BibliophilesThe secret to reading lots to tots is to keep it fun. The secret to keeping it fun is to keep it interactive. Don't expect toddlers to sit still or listen quietly. Follow their lead. If they want to start in the middle and look at two pictures before moving to another activity, let them!
Let toddlers turn the pages. Teach them how to grasp a corner, pull it gently toward them, and lay it down. This requires a well-developed pincer grasp and fine motor coordination. Until they've developed the physical ability and have practiced, they use their entire hand, which means some wrinkling and ripping. Board books are better!
As you read to your child, keep the humor going! Tell older toddlers that the picture of a cat is a horse. So as not to confuse things, be sure your youngster gets the joke!
Give vocabulary “lessons” by pointing to the pictures and talking about them, so youngsters associate the object with the word: “See, this is a dog. This is a cat.” Ask questions to keep them engaged: “Can you find the daddy duck?” Avoid drilling and grilling. If your child doesn't answer the question, answer it for him: “Here's the daddy duck!”
Teach your child to point by making a fist and extending an index finger. If a toddler points to a picture with a finger or hand, he is expressing interest and a desire to discuss it. The parent can say, “That's an elephant. He's eating peanuts. I wonder if he'd like a peanut butter sandwich? I would!”
As you and your child look at pictures in books, round out her education by pointing out:
Colors. “Look, here's a red hen. I think there's something else ‘red’ on the next page, too. Oh, here it is. The cat has a red bow.”
Sounds. “The chicken says, ‘Cluck, cluck.’ The cow goes ‘moo.’”
Categories of objects, such as clothes, foods, vehicles, animals. “The dog is an animal. Can you find another animal?” “Yes, the cat is an animal. And look, here's another one. A horse.”
Numbers. Extend your child's index finger and help her count the bunnies, stars, French fries, or anything else.
Location. Point out the house, the barn, the haystack, the pond, and buildings or areas (such as the top, bottom, front, or back).
To instill a love of reading in children, don't just read to them. Cuddle up with your books, too! If that sounds like a pipe dream amidst the chaos of toddler-rearing, make it a habit to curl up with your own book as your child's naptime approaches. Refrain from all conversation except to state (again and again), “Sorry, I can't talk to you now. I'm reading. We'll talk later.”
When the terrible vision of you paying attention to something besides them compels youngsters to protest, clamor for a video, hurl a toy across the room, and otherwise let it be known that they need attention now, you can take the bait and lecture about the inappropriateness of throwing toys and the ill effects of video-watching. Or, you can avoid the call to battle by suggesting the toddler look at a book, too. Then keep your eyes glued to your book to drive the message home: “I'm busy. I'm doing something important! I'm reading.”
Some children will escalate until parents are forced to close their book to tend to their tyke. But just as little ones hold tea parties because Mom cooks and push toy brooms because Dad sweeps the garage, if they see parents reach for a book when it's time to relax, they will begin to do the same.
