thebeTTerME: How did I make my daughter love books :)

Gone are the days when kids loved to read books! Fingers that used to trace letters now swipe on the screens. Smart brains who are addicted to fantastic fun which is only a touch away cannot cope with reading which is an art of playing with imagination at a slow pace! But no one can deny the significance of paper and ink; even the parents who love to buy their kids every type of gadgets want them to be book worms.

How can we forget the fragrance of a new book, the beauty of turning pages, the art of tracking words and knitting details with mind’s eye! What a fun it was to relate to characters, live with them and feel for them!

My favorite childhood memories are to visit Fairoz Sons, a book store in Lahore and get a real lot of books. My weekends were dedicated to arrange my book rack. Well it was not exactly a book rack. It was my mom’s old fashioned huge side board with glass panes. I used to spend a good deal of my time in arranging and labeling my collection. Good old memories J

In today’s post I’ll share with you my tried and tested techniques, so let’s start;

· The love begins with a short tale. My Ami used to tell me stories every night and I repeated history by telling stories to my daughter. She knew how to ask for her favourite story when she was one. However the love got exaggerated here as she wanted stories at meal times as well as nap time and then at bed time J

· Be imaginative. Create short stories according to the age and taste of your toddler. My daughter didn’t like to brush her teeth so I created a simple story revolving around a child who got a terrible tooth ache because of not brushing his teeth, avoiding milk and eating lots of sweets.

· You hated to read books when you were a kid and now don’t have any tales to tell??? Believe me you have plenty, share stories of your life, wonders of your childhood, blunders of your teens. It’s not supposed to be any special event; whatever you’ll tell those about your past will be special for your child. They would love to listen about your favorite foods, your childhood activities, your best friends, your sibling fights, your home work tantrums.

· Repeat same stories over and over again

· Take your toddlers to bookstore and let them browse at leisure; ask them to chose any two of them.

· Keep reading the books and telling tales to your toddler. Never say no if she wants a story. This is a thing which you can manage to do while cooking or ironing.

· Keep buying books for your kids if you don’t have a library.

· Always keep books in the access of your child. You may like to use a shelf, rack, box or a corner of closet to store the books but keep them in sight. Never forget to keep some books in room where your family spend most of the time.