Developing Reading Skills

Providing age appropriate attractive books with lots of illustration and colors is an essential part for developing reading skills in children. The illustration enables children to relate the names with the real objects seen in their surroundings. Thus the illustration and the real objects make a good sense in remembering the names of fruits,shapes,vegetables,animals,birds, plants and the surrounding environment etc. It gradually helps them to develop their vocabulary. As they grow up, they need to be provided flash cards with words to associate the names with the objects. It will help them to relate the word and the sounds with the objects. Furthermore, they also need to be provided images, sounds and letters. It will help them to think, relate, associate and make a meaning for themselves. Once this taste is given to the children, it will enable them to explore and search for similar sounds,alphabets and shapes. These kinds of activities help them to enjoy and imagine the words,the sounds and make relationship with each other. It means, children need illustrated and colorful books from the first year of their lives to develop their reading skills gradually.

Language Development

Early years of language development is the most crucial and significant part in children’s lives. So providing them a multiple environment enables them to learn languages faster. They hear the pattern of the languages; keep storing the words and pronunciations in their brain, trying to make connections in their brain, and producing the language according to their requirements. Research indicates that the children, whose parents come from different culture and background, can develop their language skills faster because they get exposure to two different cultures and languages. The rich experience generates motivation and curiosity for learning the languages. So they try, exploring and practicing the language. The process forces them to express their feelings, ideas, thoughts and expressions. Keeping the importance of language development in children, adults need to keep talking to the children, probing, explaining, sharing their perspectives and relating with children’s experiences so it could make a meaning for them. Similarly, children also need to be provided with opportunity to work with their age fellows and friends. Moreover, resources like story books, toys and learning materials create a momentum in their thinking and expressions of languages so they need to be provided with all these resources so they could develop their language skills.

Child Discipline

Disciplining children is always a challenging job for parents. It frustrates, irritates, fluctuates and demonstrates emotional behavior. In many cases, we as parents cannot control ourselves in hitting our children for the misbehavior, particularly, in our third world countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan etc. The question arises, that when to teach discipline? What are the strategies that we (parents) can use it in disciplining our children? Well, the foundation to disciplining children is differentiating between, ‘Dos’ and ‘Don’ts’ from 9 to 10 months of age onwards. Here are few tips to keep in mind in disciplining our children; 1. Do tell and show our love to our children but do correct their behaviors politely and respectfully 2. Do set our standards but avoid high expectations 3. Do set limits and be fair enough to demonstrate our love. 4. Don’t let down our guard about safety. We might be teaching our children that the stove is hot or the stairs are steep, but don’t count on them to avoid temptation. 5. Do take personality into account because some children need a firm tone of voice, while others respond better to a gentler one. 6. Don’t shame or criticize. Calling name is always hurtful because it can crush children’s developing self-confidence. 7. Do be consistent because it requires a lot of patience 8. Don’t always say, ‘No’ because it gives a message to our children that we are powerless. 9. Do catch them being good. Praise their good behavior like offering a toy to a friend or helping us for small tasks. Highlighting the positive behavior is truly powerful. In order to promote self discipline or disciplining children, we need to teach them what to do and what not to do? They should also know the reason why they should do or shouldn’t do. If this happens, child discipline can be an easier task for parents.