PRANAY SAWANT DESSAI
“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents”. - Emilie Buchwald.
Reading is a gateway to knowledge and lifelong learning. Developing an inclination of reading at a premature stage for children can open abundant potential across academic triumph. Reading from an early age can shape a child’s learning ability hence parental guidance in reading from a tender age of a child is crucial to nurture and sustain a child’s reading habit.
Since time innumerable people had developed the habit of reading books to gain knowledge. In the past books were the lone facilitators of knowledge and were believed to be the ladder to the room of wisdom only few conquered. Since the passage of time technology has evolved many folds and the advent of computers and other electronic devices like kindle has brought about a big change in how we perceive information. Today in the fast information digital age where we prefer to read news over social media than newspaper, reading is merely limited to mobile screens and people are losing the interest in reading and are more inclined towards social media, hence the art of reading is more valuable than ever.
The disastrous situation that we are encountering today is one of the banes of technology. With the advent of AI, the technology has evolved so much that the social media algorithm makes sure that it displays only the things that we like to watch to keep us engaged in their apps. This shows us that we are slowly becoming slaves to the technology which was meant to better the humankind. Today, not only adults, but also children are seen addicted to smartphones. Hence the shift to the traditional medium i.e., books becomes essential. In the study of National Literacy Trust, Fewer than 3 in 10 (28.0%) children and young people aged 8 to 18 said that they read daily in 2023 which shows a 26% decrease in the number of children and young people aged 8 to 18 who read daily in their free time since 2005. While the teachers at school are doing their job of inculcating reading habits and values among school children, the foundation of reading habits happens at home. Parental involvement in a child’s reading habits plays a crucial role as children find it more interesting than just viewing it as a school chores.
Many parents find themselves helpless when their child chooses a smartphone instead of a book but children tend to learn and follow things by observing their parents. If they see their parents with smartphones, however interesting the book you give them, what they will want is the smartphone. One step that parents can take to fathom out from this is to start a bedtime habit of reading out interesting moral story books to their child which has interesting pictures in them to keep them engaged and focused in the book. There are a lot of creative books available in the market like 3D books, pop-up books to create an interest for books in children. Taking children to a book fair and letting them select books of their choice is also a good way to indulge them in reading.
The benefits of reading are immense, to name a few it helps develop cognitive skills, vocabulary, enhances writing and communication skills and many more. Warren Buffet, Barack Obama, Bill Gates and Elon Musk are habitual readers. Fostering a reading habit in children is not only to excel in academics but making them a responsible citizens of tomorrow who can think critically. In an era of digital distractions, parent’s role is even more vital in developing the love for books among their children. A child, who reads today will grow into an informed, imaginative, and knowledgeable adult tomorrow by proving that books remain timeless gateways to wisdom and success.