"If you want your children to be smart, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be smarter, read them more fairy tales," said Albert Einstein. But how can you read if the child does not listen? Einstein would hardly have answered this question, because the great physicist was not a great father or family man, to put it mildly. Well, we are not very good at physics, to put it mildly, but we will try to answer the question about books. Well, at least tell how it was for us.
We started reading books when my son was literally a few months old. He was lying in his crib, and I was telling him short nursery rhymes and showing him pictures in a book. Since a child at that age only needs his mother to be nearby, he was very happy that someone was speaking to him expressively and showing him something bright, so he got used to good things very quickly, and reading instantly became our daily activity. This went on for some time, and then I noticed that we were reading the same thing, and as soon as I picked up something new, the child expressed protest, slipped me something that had already been read to pieces, or simply lost interest and got distracted. But I remember that mom is the main one, and she should be in charge of the parade, not a one-year-old baby, so I gradually began to achieve my goal. “I’ll read for myself, and you don’t have to listen, play,” I generously allowed, and then I set up a one-man show with different voices, with onomatopoeia, chanting, and other special effects.
"Old Grandpa Kol
“There was a merry king,” I recited in a low voice.
“He shouted loudly to his retinue,” she continued to sing in a bass voice, tapping out the rhythm with her foot.
"Hey ...
Come on, fill our pipes.
Yes, call my violinists and trumpeters.
"Yes, call my violinists!" I trumpeted in low notes, and I was ready to believe in my acting talent. Willy-nilly, the child listened to this and could not help but pay attention, so the next time, the book was no longer completely new to him. So I rubbed the new things into his trust.
Everything settled down very quickly, and there was no more talk of any protest. This happened at an early age, so the habit was formed ironclad.
But I have friends who missed this fertile period, and now they can’t get their five-year-old interested in fairy tales. What should they do? My advice is to attract the child in every possible way. Look for publications with beautiful illustrations, look at picture books, play together with toy books with windows, lacing, puzzles. There are even scented books where you need to rub the page to smell, for example, chocolate - who would refuse that! And start reading before bed, when children will do anything to stay up late.
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