Tonight’s show focused on children and reading. Some parents may feel concern about raising children who are avid readers. We know that as children age, they read for pleasure less and less, and rate their enjoyment of reading as lower too. So it becomes so crucial to inspire children while they’re young, and to show them the many gifts reading has to offer. On tonight’s show Cheryl and Ryan helped provide information on how parents can lay a solid foundation for their children’s literary development.
Our
first guests of the show were Grace Moore and Alisa Mitchell. Grace moved to
Sarasota one year ago to start as the Children's Librarian at Selby Public
Library in Downtown Sarasota. She studied English and minored in French at
Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida before moving to North Carolina, where
she completed her Master's degree in Library Science at UNC-Chapel Hill, with a
focus on youth services in public libraries. Alisa is a Florida native who was
raised in Sarasota. She’s a graduate of Smith College, in Northampton,
Massachusetts. Having worked in Raleigh and Boston, Alisa returned to Sarasota
in 2001. Her background includes non-profit development, community outreach and
writing. She’s been a columnist for the local Mommy Magazine, and for the last
five years she’s coordinated the library’s early literacy outreach program.
Alisa
and Grace discussed the benefits of early reading, as well as how an active
role on the part of parents to foster a love of reading is invaluable. We also
discussed potential issues that can hinder a child’s love of reading, and how
to create the best space for children to become comfortable with books and
reading. Finally, we delved into
potential issues of disparity when it comes to creating a promising reading
future, and discussed some area programs which are working to combat these
issues. One such program is Literacy
Empowers All Families (LEAF). Additionally our guests also discussed
avenues for getting books for low or no cost.
Our
next guest of the show was Connie Manson. Connie has a Bachelor of Fine Arts
and a Master’s of Science in Early Childhood education. She founded Starlite
Puppets in 1990. She has shared music and the magic of puppetry with children
as teacher in early childhood programs, and as a professional puppet story
teller in various settings throughout the United States for the last twenty
years. She created the Tea
‘n Puppets Parent/Child Program and Story Hour. This delightful story series
is currently being held at Waldorf
Sarasota, where Connie teaches The Little Seedlings Parent Child classes
and the Sunflower Nursery Class.
Connie
discussed the power that storytelling can have in shaping children to become
avid readers, as well as what a valuable part of a parent/child relationship
story telling can be. Connie provided a
variety of tips and suggestions to listeners for making story time special with
their own children. Finally, Connie told a story for us, and later highlighted how
this story provided examples of what parents can do with their own children.
Author and Book Suggestions from Our Listeners:
Sandra Boynton
Eric Carle (Cheryl: one of our faves- we have a few in English
and in French!)
Robert Munsch (a super famous Canadian children's author)
Richard Scarry
Tommy dePaulo
Maurice Sendak (including Little Bear)
Satomi Ichikawa
Jane Yolen
Listeners’ Reading Tips and Suggestions:
Nyssa said they love reading books by John and Ian
Schoenherr (literary relatives). She also says: “my mom read to us early and
often, and continued to read to us, even after we could read all by ourselves.
I still remember The Black Cauldron, The Chronicles of Narnia, A Wrinkle in
Time (series), and the Hobbit coming to life in my mind's eye as my mother
read.”
Petra said: “I thought black and white cards with pictures
and words are the best for newborns before they see in colors. Moms can even
make books like that as well.”
Renee said: “Using sign language while reading doubles the
experience!! Makes it more interactive! The wee ones love the visual.”
Julia said: “Hope you'll give a shout out to Jim Trelease - a big advocate for reading to young children
whose book is my favorite baby shower gift”
Cheryl checked out Jim’s site and notes that he has a
great book called the read-aloud handbook, and also has free handouts on
benefits of reading aloud, do and don’ts, and more!
Alejandra said: “I
didn't pick a specific author or set of books. I knew I wanted her to start
grasping Spanish so I had family members ship me Spanish only books from South
America. It is just colorful little picture books with the Spanish saying on
the bottom. She loved them and still does till this day. And it was something
both my husband and I could read to her and make up stories along with the
words.”
Ciera said: “As a mother who has a Master’s degree in
Reading Education I knew that inspiring a love of reading in my children was
very important to me. Not only that but as a child I was an avid reader. If I
was naughty the punishment was typically removing my books from my room, which
was quite effective. I don’t feel like we have done anything out of the
ordinary or novel when it comes to integrating books and reading into our daily
routines. Starting at a young age, around one, with my oldest child we would
read one or two books as a part of his bedtime routine. As a family we would
head to his room and lounge for up to 30 minutes playing together and reading
him books as he asked. There was no "limit" to how many books we
would read at that age. As he has grown older I myself limit him to 3 picture
books or 1 chapter book (like Little Bear) because if not we would read all
night long. I have started to integrate books into my youngest child’s bedtime
routine as well, starting with one short board book with lots of engaging
pictures right before nursing to sleep.
A few more things we do include having books accessible to
the children at all times. They have a bookshelf with their books in their room
that is within reach of both children (and is securely anchored to the wall to
lessen any risk factor of falling). I also have a "never say no"
policy to reading books. If my son asks me to read him a story I make every
effort to say yes always. I make it a point to read around him, and model good
reading habits (as does his father), and we just make it fun. Early readers
need lots of interaction with books on their own terms. Let them explore, and
be there when they wish to share that experience with you.”
Thank you so much to all our listeners who contributed these great suggestions!
Thank you so much to all our listeners who contributed these great suggestions!
Additional Links from Tonight’s Show:
TONIGHT’S RIGHT:
Every woman has the right to decide collaboratively with caregivers when
she and her baby will leave the birth site for home, based on their conditions
and circumstances. To learn more about your rights, please visit
ChildbirthConnection.org.
BIRTH IN THE NEWS:
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