Reading is Fundamental

Reading to your little one is more important than you probably think. The stories you share with them introduce them to the diction and vocabulary that will soon be shaping their language It nurtures their imagination and exposes them to the world around them. Two books I cannot live without and I encourage every mother of an infant, toddler or preschooler to add to their child(ren)'s library are:

• A Hatful of Seuss: Five Favorite Dr. Seuss Stories by Dr. Seuss- With five stories(one for each weekday bedtime ;) that include Horton Hears a Who, Bartholomew and the Oobleck, If I Ran the Zoo, The Sneetches and Other Stories, and Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book, this is a great buy for young minds. Its my son Mason's favorite book and is filled with lots of colorful and interesting pictures and plots. He loves those witty sing songy Seussian rhymes, and I appreciate them as well. Its a book we enjoy together, and the distinguished jargon makes it educationally entertaining. $19.99 available at Target

• First 100 Words by Bright Baby- This colorful (and durable) big book is great at exposing babies to the basic words they'll use everyday. It used to be Mason's but now his baby brother Chase loves it!!! Go through it with your child or a child you know once a day and they'll get those building blocks down in no time. Go a step further--don't just stop at the words and pictures in the book, introduce your child to correlative words along the way. tell them that SOCKS are WARM when they see the picture or that FROGS go RIBBET. Repetition is key...they'll be chatting before you know it. $8.95 also available at Target

If your child is a NOGGIN watcher you know that "reading with your child 15 minutes a day inspires a lifetime love of learning." Remember your child correlates happy times and activities you do together as positive things. They love to follow your example. So read with them and around them. They'll be more inclined to do it on their own in the future. If you're a working mom its especially important to block out a little quality reading time with your little one. Remember its not the quantity of time you spend enriching them but the quality...and reading with them packs in alot of quality!

For more information on just how important it is to read to your child or a child you know visit this link...LOVE

http://www.childliteracy.com/babies.html