The importance of a significant other when it comes to children and reading.

The writer, Graham Greene said books are at their most powerful in childhood—when our minds are most open and innocent; when our imaginations are most alive. Nothing short of another living, loving human being can equal a book in its power to simultaneously move, influence, change, heal, excite, educate, and inspire. BUT initially books are not enough. In the beginning there must be a bonding agent, a parent, relative, teacher or librarian, someone who attaches book to reader.

No one is born wanting to read. Children become readers on the laps of their parents. The desire must be planted by someone outside the child, what psychologists call the ‘significant other.’  The love for reading comes to life inside a reading relationship with a significant other— this is how children become lifelong readers. Children might forget the details of the stories they hear but they will never forget the love and closeness they felt while being read to.

Although there are 10 times as many children’s books being published today than a decade ago, hundreds of children’s bookstores and library usage has librarians smiling, none of it will add up to much without that significant other.

Reading grows curiosity

Children come into the world breathing out question marks but only some retain the habits of exploring, learning, and discovering, as they grow older. Those who do so tend to be smarter, more creative, and more successful. So why are many of us allowing our curiosity to wane?

A partial answer lies in how the Internet, while providing easy access to information actually hurts the growth of curiosity. True curiosity is the sustained quest for understanding and begets insight and innovation, which is actually at risk in a wired world.

Reading nurtures a child’s curiosity. Curiosity is our greatest search engine and research has shown that curiosity is correlated with creativity, intelligence, improved learning and memory, and problem solving.

Reading feed curiosity—the quest to know and understand. Curiosity is the human capacity to be deeply fascinated. The most productive mind is the one most open to indulging the impulse to daydream, to ponder, and to let your imagination take hold.  Reading feeds the appetite for new ideas, beckoning readers to wander with a keen alertness.

Learning happens when curiosity is ignited. Maybe a book’s most important attribute is the degree it encourages curiosity—to know more, to understand more, to feel more.

Curiosity is how we acquire knowledge and it reminds us we are alive.

Curiosity isn’t a gift that keeps on giving. It is a mental muscle that atrophies without regular exercise and a habit that parents, schools and workplaces need to nurture.

“I have no special talents,” said Albert Einstein. “I am only passionately curious.”

Once upon a mind

Who am I is a universal question. In response to that question Plato said the unexamined life is not worth living, he believed wonder is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. Alice, (from Alice in Wonderland) like Plato, wanted to know Who am I, what am I, how should I live my life? “Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle.”

Once upon a mind is really another way of using once upon a time to talk with children about the important things in life. The Alice books show how books don’t provide the answers but they do deepen the questions. The best of children’s books offer the opportunity to wonder, to move toward a deeper knowledge of self, helping children grow and flourish

Happy Birthday and thank you Lewis Carroll (1.27.1832) for creating one of the most enchanting characters in literature.

Traditional Toys are better for language development than gadgets.

A new Study http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2478386 builds on a growing
body of research suggesting that electronic toys and e-books can make parents less likely to have the most meaningful kinds of verbal exchanges with their children.

The findings raise questions about whether electronic playthings make it less likely that babies will engage in the verbal give-and-take with their parents that is so crucial to cognitive development. When electronic toys were being used, parents said about 40 words per minute, on average, compared with 56 words per minute for traditional toys and 67 words per minute with books.
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a professor of psychology at Temple University
 “A toy should be 10 percent toy and 90 percent child, and with a lot of these electronic toys, the toy takes over 90 percent and the child just fills in the blank.”

Reading aloud and talking to children makes for a stronger brain.

Early childhood experiences have long lasting consequences for children’s long-term social, emotional and cognitive development. Early childhood experiences cast a lifelong shadow.

 Education does not begin at school. It certainly does not begin at kindergarten.It actually begins at birth.  Brains develop biologically. Major brain stimulation occurs in the first months and first years of life for each child. Brains that are exercised in those key time frames end up as stronger brains.

Direct adult interactions with children in those key months and years create the needed connections that build brains. Studies have shown that reading aloud gives children bigger vocabularies and better reading comprehension in school. Seventy-one percent of parents with a college degree say they do it every day, compared with 33 percent of those with a high school diploma or less, Pew found.

Reading aloud and focusing your attention on the child by talking to them about the story is an ideal activity for their brain development. In addition, reading favorite books on a regular basis builds vocabularies, creates a sense of emotional security—it is one of the many ways we show children they are loved.

It is no surprise, long after the story line of the books are forgotten, the love that is communicated and experienced inside a “reading relationship,” between a child and their parent, is never forgotten.