Although we don't like to believe it, it is already confirmed. Children and teenagers read less and less. Less than the previous generations. Additionally, the amount of time pre-teens and teens spend on YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok has increased during the pandemic while reading time among these age groups has steadily declined.
One survey finding that could be especially concerning for teachers of top 10 CBSE schools in Kolkata 2022: Only one-third of pre-teens and one in five teenagers said they spend some time reading for their pleasure each day. However, reading is a key area of concern for schools trying to address the "unfinished learning" that has occurred during the pandemic.
Why is it worth reading? You can no longer be illiterate if you want to live decently. No other method has yet been invented for the acquisition of certain knowledge than reading.
Experts from the best school in south Kolkata say that children should read what they like if they like anything. And, having started from there, try to cultivate and refine their tastes. Attitude is important. It's very hard to read for pleasure when you have much-required reading.
For many years now, reading has become an increasingly rare hobby, especially among teenagers. It is true, that there are still many children who read for pleasure from a young age when they can barely syllabify the words, but, unfortunately, as they get older, most of them give up reading in favour of other ways of spending their free time.
Reading becomes more and more difficult and, in most cases, it turns from something beautiful into an obligation imposed by the school or by the parents who don't seem to understand why their children don't like to read anymore. The teachers from the top English medium school in Kolkata often face both the increasingly dramatic distancing of children from books, as well as the despair of parents who want their children to read. Most often we blame technology, the TV and the computer, the virtual life that seems to have taken over our minds and reset our priorities and our taste for beauty in an incomprehensible way. But is technology alone entirely responsible? Aren't we the people behind it?
Let's read as often as possible!
The teachers of the top 10 CBSE schools in Kolkata 2022 realized that parents spend a lot of time raising their children with the idea that reading is practiced only before going to bed. We read them stories before we put them to sleep and... that's about it. But what if we bought them books as often as we buy them toys?
Let's visit bookstores!
As we often visit playgrounds in supermarkets or toy departments... why not? There are various activities for children organized in many bookstores and even if we don't always have access to them for various reasons, it is not impossible to take your child to a bookstore instead of putting him in a ticket machine
Knowing how to read alone is not a rush!
It is an idea that the teachers from the top English medium school in Kolkata think parents should keep in mind when they start to create expectations from their preschool children. It has become a kind of fashion among parents and a reason for praise when the child learns to read at a very young age. Such progress indeed is to be appreciated, but each child eventually learns to read at his own pace, so we should not rush our children in this direction just because it gives us new pleasure. Some extremely intelligent children read on their own only very late, just as there are children who read at 3 years old, but whose progress slows down afterward. Reading is like walking. Some learn it faster, others later, but in the end, everyone knows how to read, just as everyone knows how to walk. A natural rhythm is best.
Let's always read together!
Once they learn to read, children become very independent when it comes to books. Many of them no longer want to be read to, they choose their books, they start to have preferences and often refuse their parents' suggestions, therefore the choices made must be per their preferences but be subtly coordinated by an adult who knows to choose what is more suitable for their age and their understanding. The moments of reading together must be perpetuated beyond the age of early childhood. It's never too late to read with your child. Not even when he is old enough to read stories to him. Reading time can be turned into a daily ritual, in which everyone reads for themselves, but together.
Let's go to the next level together!
The transition from reading together to reading alone is not always easy. Children are often tempted to give up easily because they find it too difficult to read on their own. However, Experts from the best school in south Kolkata recommend the transition to the next level to be done subtly, through appropriate choices, made at the appropriate moment. Read together up to a certain page or up to a certain chapter, then set a deadline by which the child must reach another page by himself.
Let's choose the right books!
Reading suggestions can be found everywhere, on the net, in bookstores, and specialized magazines. However, they must always be adapted to the child's preferences, his personality. The variety of readings is so great that it would be absurd for all children to read the same books. Of course, there are certain universal readings that at a certain stage delight everyone, but over time some children prefer stories, while others are attracted to comics, and others to adventure books.
Let's limit the influence of technology!
If there's one thing I've learned about the book-technology feud over the past few years, it's that there's no realistic way for a book to compete with the TV or the computer. That is why limiting access to technology until reading itself becomes a habit accepted by the child is essential. And no, this limitation should not be imposed as a kind of punishment, but by continuously offering alternatives that are not necessarily related to reading. Postponing the opening of the TV or computer can be easily done in hundreds of ways. It only depends on the parents and their ability to resist the temptation to give in.
Let's be our children's models!
Nothing works better in an education process than the power of example. We make our children read in vain if we do not read ourselves. Just as the little ones imitate their parents by doing different household chores while playing or borrowing their gestures, so when they see their parents constantly reading, children become interested in books.
Sign in to leave a comment.