Never too young for stories. Read to our children

 All children are different. That is quite an obvious fact. Children within the same family also are often completely different from one another ..Even so I discovered with my first child that it is never too early, to introduce children to reading.

Busy working mums may find it difficult to spend lots of time teaching their children to do the everyday things, but a ten minute bedtime story can be a wonderful and fulfilling piece of 'bonding ' time.

Apart from reading to your child there are plenty of inexpensive little books with only one picture and one word on each page.  e.g. A is for apple,  Even a 2 year old will recognise the connection between the picture of the apple and the letter  "A" if you help them.

I was a complete novice , as most of us are with our first child, but one thing we enjoyed very much was a t.v. programme that appeared to be just loads of fun yet in amongst all the fun ,each episode would concentrate on one letter of the alphabet. So every 5 minutes or so 'todays' letter' would take over the entire t.v. screen and puppets would sing a song about this one particular letter..

I soon realised that singing the alphabet with my 2 year old was making a definite , and very positive effect on his ability to remember letters.. (I have since then discovered that learning a new language can be made easier through songs. Sounds odd but true. )

                         One day we were in the kitchen when my little boy could not have been more than two and a half, he squealed with delight..."Look mum a W" He'd recognised the letter  W on the front of our washing machine. He was so excited and I was slightly stunned to realise just how much his little brain had been absorbing through play, singing, and that very educational fun t.v. programme.. By the time he started school he could read very well. . I have no doubt in my mind that it helped him to have confidence in those early days when your "baby" finds himself in a classroom full of other children, all being taught by one obviously extremely patient person.

It shouldn't really have come as any surprise to me that books at an early age are so beneficial, because my earliest memories of presents apart from dolls, is books, books and more books. I could not wait to devour each and every one of them. By the age of seven I enjoyed reading 'the classics'. Enjoyed is probably the point I'm trying to make about early reading..   Reading good books is such an enriching, rewarding experience.

At the age of fourteen , I was blessed with the most remarkable teacher of English Literature.Up to that time Shakespeares' plays were a mystery to me. Not for much longer , not with "Beefy Jenkins" in front of the class. "Beefy Jenkins" was aptly nicknamed due to the fact that on top of a rather heavily set body sat a large round, red, face. He reminded us of a joint of beef half--roasted..

Oh, but what an inspiration that man was. I will never forget him. I can still remember the feeling of being a teenager , yet  hanging on his every word.  Listening to his account of a Shakespeare play, in his own words so that the class would get the 'feel' of it before beginning to read "The Merchant of Venice". Even the least interested boy in the class was eager to begin reading the play after "Beefys'" rendition of the famous Shylock speech. "The quality of mercy is not strained" etc.,

When this larger than life character stood in front of the blackboard explaining such old world writings of the famous bard (Shakespeare) you could have heard a pin drop. No mean feat for anyone with over 30 fourteen year olds sitting there.

Books are such treasures. Allsorts of books. Not everyone likes poetry or plays. Not everyone enjoys thrillers, though I love them myself, and for sure not everyone likes History books  or biographies but there are books out there to suit everyones' tastes..

The earlier, or the younger you start reading, the more you'll be able to bring yourself a little happiness even if you are alone., and though the internet is something I don't know how we could live without, I still love to take a book from a shelf and read myself into another world..

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