Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

Someone asked me, ‘How do we read to a two year old? If I read all the words in a storybook, he doesn’t seem to understand and he’d want to get up and go.’

Well, first of all, I personally think small children do understand what we’re reading to them.

It’s just the understanding of the whole story or concept may take time. It’s a process. And it does depend on their age too.

small children do understand what we’re reading to them.

To a 2-year-old toddler like Brie, I’d read a sentence or two, then I’d ask her about something interesting that she can find in the book.

Like, when we’re reading this book ‘One more candle’, there are drawings of puppies, cats, balloons, cakes, a bicycle, butterflies etc on the different pages.

So, I’d ask Brie to find something, and point it out to me.

This keeps her engaged (compared to me just reading all the words in one go).

She’d look for it, point to show me, and say the name of the thing that she’s found.

[Brie : Now where is that bicycle again? I saw it just now!]

As she looks out for different things, I keep on reading the story to her.

And sometimes, I’d just re-tell the story, based on the pictures on each page, without reading any of the words in the storybook.

It’s about introducing books and the love of reading and learning into the lives of children since young

To me, reading a book to a toddler is not about teaching her how to read. Not just yet at that age (well, unless your child is a genius =)

It’s more about them hearing the story being read by us.

It’s about observing images and learning about new things and words.

It’s more about snuggling up and looking at pictures together.

It’s about introducing books and the love of reading and learning into the lives of children since young.

One More Candle

I thought I should share a bit about this book now.

What I immediately love about it is, the illustrations, the colours and the whole simple story that ends up with a strong family bond between siblings.

You see, when there’s more than one child in the family, most likely at one point or another you’ll hear, ‘When is MY birthday?’, ‘I want to get birthday presents too’, ‘Why is she older than me?’, ‘I want what she has!’, and so on. A natural inclination towards sibling rivalry.

And so, if you ask me, one way to encourage good sibling relationships and instill positive family values is through reading books together, books that focus on family love and relationship, like this one.

[‘One More Candle’ is written by Merry Susiarjo, illustrated by Emmeline Pidgen]

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To find out more about ‘One More Candle’, or to get your own copy :

> Click HERE (order online)

> If you’re in Indonesia, contact the local retailer Twelve Elves Books Indonesia (email: 12elves.id[at]gmail[dot]com)

> If you’re in Singapore, you can contact them through this email : 12elves.sg[at]gmail[com]

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Happy reading, everyone! =)