Teach your Baby How to Read Part II

Yesterday, I shared about that parents should encourage their children to read from the young and that the younger they start  the better they get later on.

Today I  would like to share about the technique based on following the Baby reading program. 

The book encourages us to start out with single words, before proceeding to two words, and than to full sentences.  I would like to share about the first step today for parties interested..

As you all know, I have a set of twins who are both one years old. They have both started to talk at this age and have started shouting out "daddy daddy" and "mama mama". 

Before starting out, ensure that both the parent and child are in very good mood. Do not proceed to reading session with your child if either the child or parent are in bad mood. There are some days where you are not in a good mood or your child is not in a good mood. If there are other more pressing things such as feeding the child or changing the child proceed to do so before starting the reading session. 

Step One

All you need is 5 pieces if  " 6 inches x 22 inches long"  white cardboard.  Write down a word on each cardboard using 3 inches letters using a bright colour preferably green or red. 

Introduce your baby/ toddler / child to five words on the first day. This five words must be special to your child such as her first words, the name of his or her family member. I chose "Daddy, Mummy, Alicia, Alison and Me."  

Take your baby to a quiet spot with no or little furnitures. Ensure that there is no distraction such as the tv on or radio on. It only takes ONE MINUTE. Sit in front of your child and hold the white cardboard in front of you. Read out the words to your child loudly and slowly while pointing at the cardboard. Take less than three seconds for each cardboard as your baby will lose interest very easily. Use as much enthusiasm as you can while pronouncing each word and after five words have been read out, give your baby a hug and share an intimate moment with him/her.

Your child will learn to associate reading with fun time with mummy or daddy and as this progress he or she will develop an interest in reading without any prompting. 

Take fifteen minute rest and repeat this procedure twice more on the first day.

On the second day introduce your child to a second set of five words which are associated to her body parts or personal belongings such as "eyes, nose, ears, hand and mouth." Write down the words on the cardboard. Start out by reading out the first set of 5 words to your child first. Take fifteen minutes of rest and start out reading the second set of words. Repeat this procedure twice more on the second day.   

On the third day, the book suggest introducing your child to another set of five words which are associated with your child's food which are personal to him or her. I chose the words " water, milk, grapes, porridge, mango."  Repeat the steps set out above in regards to the first set of words and second set of words. Take fifteen minutes break and read out the third set of words. 

Congratulation, you have now introduce your child to fifteen words.  Make sure that you do not take more than three seconds to show your child each word as children have a really short attention span. Do not repeat the word out. Just read it once. Make sure to stop before your baby wants to stop. This would make sure she does not lose her enthusiasm for reading.

The expiry rate of each word is five days. Therefore continue using the three sets of words you started out for five days. You now retire 5 words daily and introduce a new set of  5 words.You may want introduce your child to another set of 5 words, this time associated with his or her objects such as 'bed, cupboard, tv, sofa, table'. Ensure that the word used are those associated to objects that he or she sees everyday.

For the next set of words you may wish introduce your child to word associated with animals or actions, such as ' eating, drinking, sleeping, jumping and walking.' Action words are more fun as you can start off the reading session by showing off the action word, for example jumping. You than grab your child and allow her to imitate the action word, in this instance, the word jumping. 

Repeat the sequence for the three set of words until all the words have been replaced. 

To recap :

You introduce a set of 15 words x 3 times daily. 

You take no less than 3 seconds for each words.

You retire five words daily and introduce five words daily.  

Stop b4 Baby wants to stop

If you have followed the instruction until now, you would have take the first step to encouraging your baby to read. 

Until next time, i will bring you up to date how to intro two words and than string sentences for your child. 

Au revoir and take care.

Teach your Baby how to read

It is better to build children than to repair adults "

I would like to offer my sincere apologies for the delay in posting new posts.  I have been quite busy shifting job and adjusting to my new job in Hong Leong Bank.

Today I would like to share about the secrets I have learned in this book that I picked up in Popular bookstore. The title of the book is "TEACH YOUR BABY HOW to READ"

Now when my husband first approach me with the idea, I laughed at his face. Now he is adamant about proving that he is right. Many people think that kids should enjoy their first few years and proceed to studying at the age of six.
The book first prove that babies can read and give various examples throughout the book to show that babies do actually pick up reading at very young age. In  fact there was an example of a five year old who picked up reading at the age of three years old and have read through all the books in the house. The book also went to illustrate that children from age zero to six years old absorb things very fast. That is why parents are advised not to swear or fight in front of their children for fear that they would pick up all the vulgar words and negative emotions.

I specifically enjoyed the illustration about a child who could speak five languages by the time he was five years old.  The book explains that the parents were of mix descendant from Turkey who move to Cairo when the baby was one years old. Since their parents were of mix heritage, they spoke Turkish and Spanish very well. The baby grandfather and grandmother were of Armenian descent and could speak the language very well and also a bit of Serbian language.;  As they were muslim, they were also well versed in Arabic. At the age of three years old, the whole family moved to America to do business.  The child naturally picked up Turkish, Spanish, Armenian, Arabic and English. When the boy was four years old, they moved again to Germany and the boy picked up German as well.

The fact that the boy was so well versed in so many languages had to do with the fact that he was exposed to different languages since young. The book went on to show that millions had been spent in America to encourage teenagers to pick up a secondary languages but they still struggle. Why is this so?

The answer to this question is simple....a child brain is like a sponge. He absorbs everything through his five senses and from age one to six years old, his absorption rate is so high that he can pick up languages and reading as well.

Do you notice that when u turn on your tv, babies would stare at advertisement, especially those big words. Kids who dont know how to read are able to recognize the word Mcdonald and Marlboro due to the advertisement on the tv.

The book encourages parents to start teaching their children young. The book go on to say that Children SHOULD start reading young reason being that children who start reading young enjoy a huge rate of success later in their lives and  associate learning new things with joy.

Have you ever heard some people say that they had a good day because they learn many things that day? Or have you heard people say that they had a bad day but they learn a new lesson that day?

Well the book encourages parent to teach their children from young so that our children will be exposed to learning reading at young age and will not feel that learning is a burden.

After reading the book, I was very much impressed by the details that the author went in to convince young parent to expose their children to reading from small. They only started teaching the techniques at chapter seven. I would like to share about the technique tomorrow as it is time for me to cook.

Until than, au revoir and take care.

           

Week 12 - 13 of Pregnancy

Now that you are 12 weeks pregnant, your baby is fully formed in your womb and should have all his or her tiny body parts from toothbuds to toenails. (Congratulations) He or she will measure about 6cm (2.5in) average and roughly the length of your thumb. (so cute)

His or her fingers and toes would have separated and some of his or her bones are beginning to harden. He or she would be busy kicking and stretching; his or her movements are so fluid they look like water ballet. (Just imagine a very small baby seal swimming around in your stomach).

Nah I am just kidding, your precious look something like this :-

                                          Pictures of a 12-13 week baby

The eyes which started out on the sides of his or her head, have moved closer together and his ears are almost in their final position. 

   

Week 11-12

Your uterus is now almost big enough to fill your pelvis, and your waist is thickening, Make sure that you are drinking 8 glasses of water a day and limiting your caffeinated drinks.

You should have your first antenatal check-up by now. Book an appointment with your midwife. You will need to get your blood and urine tests. This is also a great experience for you to hear your baby's heart beat. Don't worry if your midwife can't find your baby's heart beat, they are too small right now.

Week 9-10

You might not gain weight now but your breasts must have grown lots. You are also have your blood volume increased and by the end of your pregnancy, you will have 40-50% more blood to meet your baby's demands. Due to this, you are prone to varicose veins. 

Your little belly isn't obvious enough right now but still, you are feeling tired at most of the time and sick - not necessarily in the morning but any time in the day. Many women suffer from headaches too! 

Week 7-8

You will feel tired and nausea at the moment. Try to rest as much as possible and get your partner to involve in your pregnancy at the same time. In the future, you might get disturbed nights hence you better rest as much as possible right now.

Some pregnant women might eel as if they are on an emotional rollercoaster, which I find it very usual due to the hormone change. And these hormonal change can result in vivid dreams as well. So do not be over superstitious! 

Week 5-6

If you are used to regular exercise, it is safe to continue in pregnancy until a time when your bump gets in the way, making some forms of exercise more difficult. If you are not used to exercising, then, it is a good time to start. Exercise helps you to develop good muscle tone, strength and endurance. It helps you to manage the extra weight you'll put on (or prevent you putting on too much more weight). Help you to get  fit for labour and help on getting back your figure back after birth. To be honest, I don't really like to exercise even when I am pregnant. The only exercise that I have was shopping for hours that encourage me to walk more. It helps on my labour, I only endure 3 hours of labour pain.

Pregnancy symptoms usually begins on week 6 and some women will notice nausea that can last all day long just like me. Especially when you have twins, your morning sickness can get worst. Fatigue as usual, the discomfort of sore breast and the need to urinate more often and that's annoying me all night. Especially I have insomnia during my pregnancy when both babies take turn to kick me. I do not get to sleep until 5-6 in the morning. And that when my frequent urinating kicking in. Most importantly, you get all the nutrients that you need for your babies, drink plenty of water and eats regular meals.