PPOD Tip of the Month: ATTENDS TO STORY
Reading is great for children of all ages. Reading with your child is the single most
important thing that you can do to help your child become a good reader. You should
read to your child every day. Continue to read to your child only as long as he is
interested. Remember that he is still very young and that he doesn’t have a long
attention span. Young children should be able to attend to a book that you are reading
for one minute for every year of their age. For instance, a two-year-old should be able to
attend to a story for two minutes.
HELPFUL HINTS
At first, children like very short books with large pictures. They prefer you to “read” the
book from the pictures when the text is too long. Short statements about the pictures
work best: “This is a pink bike,” “Here is a bird flying in the sky,” or “The boy is eating a
cookie.”
As children become interested in looking at the details in pictures, they will want you to
stay on one page for a little longer than usual. Wait until your child is ready for you to
turn the page. If he is really interested in a picture, tell him more details about the
picture: “The boy is eating a cookie. The boy is sitting on a chair. The boy has brown
hair. The boy is wearing a red sweater.”
As your child’s language skills get better, you can do a lot of fun things with books. You
can ask your child to point to items in the picture: “Point to the cookie. Show me the
chair. Where is the boy’s hair?” If your child does not point to the picture, point to it for
him and tell him what it is: “This is the cookie. This is the chair.” Once your child is good
at pointing to pictures, you can ask him to label objects. You can point to the ball and
say “What is this?” If he answers correctly say, “Yes, this is a ball.” If your child doesn’t
answer or answers incorrectly simply say, “This is a ball.”
IDEAS
You can read your child the same book when he is older as you did when he was
younger. When your child was younger, you pointed to the pictures and labeled it for
him. When your child is older you can:
• Ask “Where is the ____?” so that he can point to the picture.
• You can also point to a picture and ask “What’s this?” so that he can label the
picture.
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Once your child is good at labeling pictures, you can ask him questions that
include prepositions “What’s under the table?” or “What’s on the boy’s head?”
Next, you can ask questions that involve action words “What is the girl throwing?
What do you do with a cup?”
Finally, you can ask questions that involve feeling “Uh oh! The girl dropped her
ice cream on the grass. How do you think she feels?”
Take your child to the library on a regular basis. You can look at books together and you
can let your child pick a few books to bring home. Ask your librarian if they have story
time at the library. Many libraries host regular free story times for toddlers and
preschoolers. Take your child to these whenever possible.
ACTIVITIES
Keep a small box or basket of books in the car. This will give your chidl something
to do when you need to concentrate on traffic.
Let your child cuddle on your lap as you read him one of his favorite books.
When it’s nice out, put a blanket and some books in a bag. Take your child
outside, spread the blanket under the shade of a tree and read together.
Give your child a book to read while you are shopping. When you are busy, let
him look at the book by himself. When you are not so busy, perhaps while we are
waiting in a line, talk to him about the book as he turns the pages. Occasionally, ask
your child a question about the page he is looking at. When you are grocery shopping,
you can let your child “read” a cereal box. Talk to him about the picture on the cover.
Make up a creative story about the picture. Ask him questions about the picture. You
can also do this at breakfast time.
Pick a consistent time to read to your child each day. A good time is
before bedtime. Reading books can be a wonderful part of your bedtime routine. Let
your child cuddle on your lap as you read to him. Read the book or talk about the
pictures with inflection and enthusiasm. You can make story time interactive by
encouraging your child to turn pages, point to pictures, label pictures, or answer simple
questions.
Keep a small box or basket of books in the bathroom. This will give your child
something to do while sitting on the potty. This is particularly helpful if your child gets
anxious on the potty or if he is constipated, reading may help him relax.
For more information about
PPOD, the ideal resource for
parents of young children, go
to www.myppod.com. PPOD
contains 108 key
developmental milestones;
each with hints, warm
activities, and safety tips.
PPOD is also available as an
iPhone App (PPODs) and
iPad App (PPOD).