Nurturing Kids:
How One Mom Did It
I believe that it is never too early to start reading to your kid in the same way that it is never too early to talk to them. I have read many times that the baby in the tummy recognizes his mother's voice. So I started talking and reading to my kids from the time I learned of my pregnancy. I believed that the baby inside me could hear everything I said. If the baby inside me can be familiar with my voice, then he can be familiar with the things I read to him.
I started buying books for my son even before he was born. One of the first books I bought was Disney's "The Jungle Book" (a short sequel) and "The Lion King" (a chapter book). I read these to him (as a baby in my tummy) at night before sleeping. I remember crying after reading the chapter where King Mufasa died. I was touched.
When my son was finally born, buying books for him was a bit tricky. I did not want to buy just ANY book. I wanted to buy the right books for his age - the ones that he would appreciate and at the same time aid him in focusing and eventually learning how to read.
One challenge for parents nowadays is how to choose the best books from towering shelves of children’s books in stores.
When you go to the children’s section of any bookstore, you will be overwhelmed by the volume of books on the shelves. It is very tempting to buy books with popular cartoon or movie characters.
Again, I turned to parenting books and articles for guidance.
For my newborn daughter, I bought the materials recommended in the book “The Social Baby” by Lynne Murray for newborn babies. The set of books is called “Baby Shapes” by Helen Dorman. They are four black and white books because they say babies are able to see and focus more on objects with sharp contrasts. I stuck these books onto my daughter’s crib so she could look at them anytime and to keep her surrounding stimulating. Of course, when we were able to prop her up on our laps, we looked at the images on the pages for her to focus on. Below are sample spreads and pages from the books.
However, when my son was born four years earlier, I have not learned of “The Social Baby” nor “Baby Shapes” books yet. It was a struggle to find the right age-appropriate books for him. Nevertheless, I kept on reading to him whatever book I got hold of.
At that time, I read somewhere that even while the baby was asleep, he could hear the things you read to him or that the brain would somehow make something out of the sound around him even if it was not actually understood. It was advised to read something worthwhile so I chose “Shakespeare’s Sonnets” and read it to my then less-than-a-year-old son while he was sleeping. My husband and I took turns reading to him. I find it funny now to think that I was able to convince my husband to do the same back then. We did not know if there was any truth to that theory (that reading to a sleeping baby had positive effects on the brain) but we found pleasure in doing it and, I think, if it had any effect it wouldn’t be negative! And I can just imagine our enthusiasm back then in rearing our child such that we tried to stimulate his brain even while asleep not wanting to waste any time or opportunity for learning.
As my son grew, I also learned that the kid should start with books that only have one picture and one word on each page as opposed to pages that are crowded with pictures and too many words.
It was not easy to find good quality books that focus only on one picture and word a page or very simple word-illustration combinations that are not boring. But I spotted some in a second hand shop. I recommend “Old Hat, New Hat,” “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish,” and “Hop On Pop” --- all from the Dr. Seuss collection. These are classics. I lent my copies to a friend and she had to buy her own copy because her kid liked it so much that he wouldn't let go of the books (and I wasn't ready to give them up myself even though my kids have already outgrown them).
Some of the books in the sets are the beginner books that have one picture and word per page and the accompanying CD teaches kids how to sound off the letters and words.
Then there was Time Life Asia that published quality books for kids of all ages. I was very glad that I was introduced by a friend to Time Life books.
Time Life’s A Child’s First Skills and Language Program is the best audio-visual collection that I have bought for my kids. It has four sets - Alphabet, Time, Rainbow and Numbers. Each set has around ten picture books, a workbook, an audio CD, video cassette, wall posters, friezes and some activity materials including a cardboard clock (which comes in handy now that my second child is learning more about time in Year 2). It is really a “complete” program as it comes in 3 media – printed, audio and video. For me, it is an amazing set and a worthwhile investment as it has materials from ages 0-5. Even I am amused by the songs and stories in the video!
Most of the books are very appropriate for very young kids. And the audio CD’s and videos are DEFINITELY entertaining! It is full of songs, poems, stories that continue to amuse my children, husband and me. While writing this piece, I decided to look back at our set to refresh myself. It brought back happy and funny memories and we still remember the melodies of the songs. It is an superb collection indeed!
It was an expensive collection costing me around $500 ten years ago which I paid in installment. But it was all worth it. I am sure it helped in developing my children's reading skills and, more importantly, the love for reading. In fact, they have outgrown it by now but I could not bear parting with it. I could not imagine selling it or giving it away. I want to keep it for my children's children as Time Life also stopped producing this collection although I’ve seen some people selling bits and pieces of this collection online.
I searched for the books on the internet and some of them are no longer in publication or have limited availability or only used copies are being sold. In my opinion, the following books from the collection are worth purchasing separately:
“Good Morning Baby” and “Good Night Baby” by author David Bennett are both one-liner picture books that illustrate a day in the life of a baby or toddler in a very simple way to which young kids can relate. “Moonlight” by Jan Ormerod is an interesting plain picture book as it doesn’t have any word. The parent is given the chance to “write” the words to describe the pictures which show a girl trying to sleep on her own and her parents helping her on it, with a funny twist in the end. As the child grows, he or she can also fill in the words to complete the book. It is one of a kind, the only book like this that I’ve seen so far.
“Ten Little Teddy Bears” by Maureen Roffey, “The Nickle Nackle Tree” by Lynley Dodd and “Over in the Meadow” by Olive A. Wadsworth are all counting rhyme books. I enjoyed reading it using interesting intonation and pronunciation and my kids could not stop laughing and would ask me to repeat certain lines over and over again (e.g., hoity-toity smile).
“My Colourful Day” by Merida Woodford and “A Rainbow of My Own” by Don Freeman are books from the set that introduces the child to colors. These are very short but delightful books with interesting illustrations that parents and children can talk about.
The books “(Ma) Liang and the Magic Paintbrush,” which is a Chinese folktale, and “Matthew’s Dream” by Leo Lionni are actually included only in the video “Colours” of A Child’s First Skills and Language Program. My children and I liked them so much that I looked for the titles on the internet and saw that there are printed books for them. These stories are enchanting and are good ways to introduce young kids to longer stories.
Even after purchasing A Child’s First Skills and Language Program, I continued to buy more books especially when my mom gave me a list of must-read books for kids that she saw in a newspaper article.
