Reading aloud isn’t a performance…

It’s time to read your child a book and the pressure is on! You want to make sure you hold their attention…but how? Do silly voices? Put on a costume? Borrow puppets from the Sesame Workshop?

Not gonna lie, that all sounds pretty fun. But…you don’t have to do ANY of these things to engage your child because reading aloud isn’t a performance.

Instead of being a performer and reading books to your child, read books WITH them.

Ok, sounds great, but how? Our young kids can’t exactly read yet.

The key is to involve your child while reading. Giving them opportunities to interact with the book and be an active participant is what makes the difference between keeping their attention…and not.

This is super exciting because it means that it’s not all on you! That’s a relief, right? It’s not you reading the book to your child, with your child just watching and listening. You’re reading the book together.

Here are a few examples:

MAKE SOME NOISE:
“Look at this cow! Mooooo! I wonder how loud you can moo…”

TAKE A BITE:
“Yum, I want to eat that strawberry –nom nom nom. Do you wanna bite? Here, go ahead.” Pretend to pick the food right out of the book!

PRETEND:
“Look how tall the giraffe is! I can be tall like a giraffe.” (stretch your arms up high) “I wonder if you can be as tall as a giraffe. Wow, you’re tall!”

SAY, “HELLO!”
“Hi, Cheetah!” Let’s say hi to the cheetah!” This goes for goodbye too – “Ok bye, Cheetah, we’ll read you again later. Bye!”

When you take your focus off your performance and put it on your child, reading not only becomes fun and engaging, but is also a time to bond and connect.