Common questions
- "Why should I read with my child at home?
That's the teacher's job in school!" - "When should my child start learning to read?"
- "Babies can't read!"
- "What if they want the same book over and over again?"
- "What about the alphabet?"
- "What can we read if we don't want to read books?"
- "Should I cover up the pictures?"
- "What if my child makes a mistake?"
- "What should do if my child doesn't recognise a word?
- "How often should my child read to me?"
- "How can I help when my child wants to read silently?"
- "Why should my child speak and read Welsh if I can't?"
- "Do children get confused between Welsh and English?"
There are many advantages to reading with your child. Children don't only learn in school and parents play an important role in their children's development. Reading gives you and your child the quality time to bond and enjoy each other's company.
It's never too early to read to your child or to sing songs and rhymes. It's important for babies to get used to books even though they won't understand the story! There are soft, colour, picture-and-word and pop-up books available for babies that will help develop various skills. It's important for babies to get used to books even though they won't understand the story! There are soft, colour, picture-and-word and pop-up books available for babies that will help develop various skills.
Research shows that children who are familiar with hearing a language before starting school are likely to succeed better in their schoolwork. You should familiarise your baby with word and letter sounds by reading and talking to them from a young age.
Let them have it. Children love favourite stories. Through re-reading, they learn the patterns of language and that reading is an enjoyable experience. Just make sure that you also introduce new stories to give them a taste of something different.
Encourage your child to learn letter names and letter sounds. Children need easy familiarity with letters to recognise their shape and talk about them by name. Alphabet friezes and plastic letters help children learn the names of letters. Games such as 'I-Spy' or silly sentences, rhyming games and songs help children hear letter sounds or word patterns.
You don't always have to read a book with your child. Introduce other reading material such as newspapers, signs in the home or on the road or recipe books.
No, pictures are full of interest to children and give clues about what is happening in a story. Encourage your child to look closely at the pictures, to help them with their predictions.
If the 'mistake' makes sense, let your child continue reading. The mistakes that matter are the ones that don't make sense. It would then be helpful to reread the preceding couple of sentences, including the error, and discuss whether it makes sense and tell the child the correct word. The most important thing when reading is that the meaning is clear.
In the early stages, just say the word to keep the meaning of the story, or quietly say the first sound of the word to see if your child can predict what the word is. Don't ask a child to sound out an unknown word, particularly with small common words such as 'the', 'this' 'you'. If in doubt, always tell your child the word.
Encourage your child to read to you a few times each week at a time that suits you both. They may also like to read to a younger brother or sister, or to grandparents. If your child gets tired, always finish the story and chat about what you've read.
If your child prefers to read silently, particularly as they read longer stories, just chat about their view of the story. Continue to show that you are interested in the stories they have chosen to read. It is important however to continue to read aloud to your child, whatever their stage of reading development.
There are many advantages for your child to be bilingual. Research shows that children who understand two languages have more creative and flexible minds. Bilingual people can communicate with a wider range of people than monoligual people.
