Permanent Impressions Begin Today

Preschoolers remind me of wet cement. Their receptive minds are imprinted with the interests and values of their parents. As the parent of a 3 or 4 year old, you have a hand in impressing your child with a lifelong affection for books. Here are two daily strategies:

Read Everything Aloud.  Your mail, magazine articles, recipes, the bills, street signs, and greeting cards make for teaching moments.  As your child hears you read he becomes aware that print has a purpose.  Since he wants to imitate you, his favorite person, he wants to be able to read.  By your example, at 4 he will “have begun to understand that printed words have meaning. By age 5, most will begin to know that not just the story, but also the printed words themselves go from left to right.  Many will even be identifying some capital and small letters and simple words.”