Having been brought up in a family where people would consider time wasted if a day passed without turning the pages of a book, it pains me to see that most people have lost the habit of reading. Books now gather dust on shelves.
Ever since I remember, my parents had created an environment where books were treasured and curiosity fostered. We were a family bound by a love of reading. Visits to libraries were frequent and eagerly awaited!
It is a sad fact that our big city of the millennium, Gurgaon, has hardly any proper library and just a smattering of big bookshops which are overpriced supermarkets for books. Where is the small book shop? The fine, restful place, like an antique shop—where a book lover can spend his time, where you can rummage and find treasures, where you can talk to the people who actually own the shop and who’ve made a selection and know all the books and can tell you something about them, without being pressured to make a sale.
There’s a lot to reading and the most important thing that parents can do is talk and read aloud to their children.During the toddler and preschool years, it is critical to provide children with reading experiences and this begins by reading aloud by parents.
It has been proved that reading aloud to your children helps them remember better and get ahead of the curve. Reading to them could improve their reading, predicting, writing, speaking, and listening skills.Children listen to stories well beyond their capacity to read, understand and enjoy them. It’s like a scholastic vitamin. Apart from these, imagine the thrill of curling up with your kids, and enjoying Charlie Chaplin or Harry Potter together.
And once the children are able to connect alphabets and words, books will be their companions for life. The amount of reading one should get through is of course nobody's business. There is no end to it for there are varieties of subjects to explore. And here’s the positive side—it’s practically free. Get to the library. All it costs is the energy and will to get there. Get a book and read!