Raising Readers- What is it?

Raising Readers is a 4 weeks long campaign to help kids develop a love for books & reading. The campaign is mainly addressed towards kids aged 0-10 years, their parents, teachers and caretakers. It is to help develop reading habits among kids in a sustained and enjoyable way with engaging activities and contest around books.

The need for building reading habit

You and I certainly know that how much time and space a variety of gadgets have taken from us in this fast-paced and digitalized era.

The Covid-19 pandemic has done enough from its side too to get everything done online, most importantly, children’s education. This being the scenario many of the children are spending a lot of time before their screens which we know is going to be harmful in the long run.

Also, we see that there is a decline in children’s reading habits. While reading for joy can help grow a happy and mindful child, the decline in reading habits becomes a cause of concern.

To revive the joy of reading among children, it’s important to catch them young. Kids should feel the joy of holding a book in hand, exploring the pages and venturing to new places that the stories take them to.

They need to feel that excitement and wonder that comes with a book. It’s with this notion that we came up with this campaign to help kids as well as their caretakers in finding resources and rhythm as well to get into the habit of reading.

Why Reading?

Before even getting into sharing tips and resources I wish to put across the importance of reading habits. It’s vital for you as a parent or caretaker to be convinced of its importance before you could help your child to get into reading habits.

You might ask that to keep a child away from gadgets there are many other options, hobbies or sports and so why specifically reading. Well, here are a few points from my personal experience with raising a reader that can convince you too:

Exercise for the mind

Like playing games is an exercise for the body, reading books is an exercise for the mind. It involves active involvement of the mind to grasp new concepts, wander in their world of imagination and thus helps in keeping the mind sharp.

We all want to stay young through appearance; why not stay young & sharp in mind too right?

Improves creativity

Books open up to different places, cultures, concepts and whatnot. This variety of information and stories that kids get access to helps in improving their creativity. It helps keep their wonder element, the spark-ignited & explore their own world of imagination and creativity.

Develop empathy

When kids read about different characters from different life situations, even if it’s fiction, they develop empathy. Their minds become open and it helps in not developing any prejudices in the longer run.

Enhances vocabulary

The variety in plots, storylines and writing styles in different books helps big time in enhancing the vocabulary of the reader. The best part of it is it happens subconsciously in the journey of reading even without taking any particular effort at improving vocabulary.

Better communication

Kids who read more, who grow up listening to more stories can communicate their emotions, their feelings much better. They do that either by speaking up for themselves or penning it down.

To find comfort in solitude

Reading books is a solitary activity & it helps kids find comfort in solitude. We find many kids being hyperactive these days (thanks to the lifestyle changes), the act of reading a book calms them down and mainly they learn to sit (you know what I mean if you have a hyperactive kid at home!) and engage by themselves.

Easier to access & carry a book

It’s clear, isn’t it? Moreover, when your kid is so into reading, they don’t even need a book. They start reading any piece of writing that they see anywhere and everywhere, including the ones coming in packaging!

Just for the joy of it

This is the most important reason that children should be gifted with books. The happiness to know that there is a character similar to them, the curiosity in knowing a character different from them, the wonderment when it comes to learning a new fact, about a new place, etc, all this can bring immense joy.

Books create their own world where they can just be- A WHOLE WORLD FOR THEMSELVES. JUST IMAGINE!

Can you sense the joy? If you are a reader yourself, you know what I mean. If not, it’s high time you too start reading.

Well, there are many more reasons to develop a reading habit but I guess these are more than enough to get you started in your journey of raising a reader.

How to go about raising a reader?

Raising a reader might sound a tough task given that we are mostly surrounded by gadgets and kids are glued to screens. You may wonder how and where to start with. Or you have started but struggled to continue. In either case, we are here you help you with practical and doable tips and resources that can make the journey of raising a reader, enjoyable and sustainable.

In the next 4 weeks, we will cover various aspects of the journey and bring to you some awesome real-life incidents to inspire you.

All you have to do is stay tuned here or follow either of these pages on FB or Instagram or here.

There will be a contest and fun activities as part of this campaign. More details tomorrow.

Get yourself ready for a jolly reading ride with your tiny tot!