Believe it or not, you are your child’s first teacher! But how do you, as a parent go about finding the information you need to fulfill such a role?

What resources are available to help you carry out this important responsibility?

Here are some ideas you can use in order to get your child started on the path to developing good reading comprehension skills.

Check Out the Library and Bookstores

Your local public library and local bookstore are great resources for you and your child.  Libraries and bookstores have all the reading material your family needs. Librarians will help you find the types of books you are looking for.  You can also go online to search the most popular books for your child and then go to the library or bookstore to read them.

Show Your Child How You Read

Reading aloud to your child, and letting him or her see you reading, are two of the best ways to help your child become a good reader. Again, find current books that are popular or try to find some award winning children’s books.  Also, you can read aloud some of the all-time greats to your child (as these books may be difficult for younger readers, they are still entertaining, even for kids as young as 6). 

As Barbara Bush wrote recently, "Above all, children love to be read to. It is a special time for them to be close to the grown-ups who care for them, and a wonderful way to feel loved." (Bush, 1993)

It is also important to make sure that you model reading around the house by relaxing on the couch with the newspaper, a magazine, or a book.  Your child will see you reading (which is good role modelling) and if you’re lucky, will join you.

Out and About

Ordinary daily activities can be an occasion for learning. For example, recognizing commercial signs and street names while out walking or driving is one of the first steps in learning to read. While in the car, you can put on a news-talk radio station.  If the topic is appropriate, have your child listen and ask what he or she thinks about the issue. A simple trip to the grocery store is more fun if you talk with your child about the objects you're seeing and doing when he's little, about colors and shapes; later on, about the many places from which grocery items come; when he's older, about box sizes and unit costs and the nutritional value of items in the store.

LISTENING TO YOUR CHILDREN READ

Once a child learns to read, she needs lots of practice. The old saying about "practice makes perfect" applies to reading as it does to anything else. If your child has frequent opportunities to read aloud to a willing listener--often a parent or grand-parent or a sibling—she or he is more likely to become a fluent reader. Most children enjoy reading every other page with an adult--you read the first page, she reads the second, and so forth. With an older child, you might each read a chapter.

You may want to help your child get "over the hump" of starting a new book by offering to read the first few chapters aloud at bedtime (or alternate pages with your child). When you finish, you may hear, "Do you mind if I read the next chapter by myself before I go to sleep?" and you will know you have succeeded in achieving your goal and your child will be on his or her path to improving his or her reading comprehension skills.