Families Education TURNING YOUR CHILD INTO A BOOKWORM

Is your youngster a reluctant reader? Despite tempting them with every type of book, do they still only read when they ‘have’ to and not for pleasure?

The long summer holidays are an ideal time to work with your child. Hopefully, they’ll soon be ditching their screens and curling up with an engrossing story book instead.

We all understand the importance of reading in a child’s development and teachers are always looking for ways to engage children in reading. If you can duplicate their efforts at home, that just might make all the difference. So let’s get started:

CREATE A READING DEN

Every home should have a reading corner or den; a place that is inviting and excites children. Choose a quiet spot and add some pillows, bean bags or cushions to curl up on. Perhaps you could put up some posters to get them in the mood for imaginative thinking. What about: Under the Sea, Rainbows, Castles, Transport, In the Jungle?

USE TELEVISION SUBTITLES

Put your child’s favourite programmes on with subtitles and no sound. Can they read along and understand what is happening?

TRY KARAOKE WITH LYRICS

Host karaoke sessions so that children are challenged to read and sing lyrics on the screen.

LEARN A POEM TOGETHER

Why not learn a topical poem alongside your child: find one about holidays, the weather or beaches to fit the season!

HOST A BOOK ‘CAFE’ PLAY DAY

Put a range of books and reading materials on a table and encourage children to sample them and then discuss with one another.

FILM YOURSELF READING A STORY

Think of it as CBBC bedtime stories. Use your phone to film yourself reading a story and send in the video to your child’s teacher. If other parents do the same, the whole class can enjoy a story read by someone other than their teacher!

USE TECHNOLOGY

Children can also listen to stories with different forms of technology depending on what you have available: a tablet, iPad and CD player are all options. If you have the budget and are feeling fancy, there are some fabulous story telling devices such as a Toniebox or Yoto player too. These are really child friendly and great for a range of ages.

GET THE WHOLE FAMILY INVOLVED

Children take pleasure in reading with younger or older children and this can have a great impact on children’s progress. If you have more than one child, encourage siblings to get involved by recommending and sharing the books they love.

Provide a broad range of reading materials

Try to provide the broadest possible range of reading materials. This includes everything from recipe books to graphic novels, blogs and instructions, as well as traditional books. It matters far less what your child reads than whether they read: if a cereal box is what they enjoy, that’s fine. Once they’re reading for pleasure, they’ll move on to more traditional reading material.

Children enjoy reading about characters that they can relate to. Make sure to include picture books, and those that depict children from different family structures, cultures, religions and also physical abilities.

Friends and family may have books their children have enjoyed that they will be glad to pass on to you. Charity shops are also a fantastic source of very affordable reading material.

Make a habit of regular library visits. Most have comfortable seating corners where families sit and read before choosing more books to take home. And of course it means there’s a constant selection of new stories and fact books to discover - for free.

By Emma Shingleton

And why not enjoy a book yourself? Leading by example and being seen reading for pleasure every day will encourage your child to do the same. Tell them what your book is about and why you are enjoying it.

Reading doesn’t have to be the traditional reading of a book in silence. Discuss what you read as a family.

When you read to your child, encourage them to think about characters and how they might be feeling, or how they themselves would react in a certain situation. Bring characters to life by asking questions throughout the day about how the children think a character would react. For example, when resolving a sibling dispute, you could ask how they think the wicked witch would solve the problem.

Emma Shingleton is a former primary school teacher who now writes for PlanBee (www.planbee.com) about issues affecting teachers, schools and pupils.

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Loves FAMILIES

Fairy Lantern Night Light

We have fallen in love with this whimsical little night light from Little-Belle which was created when Laura found herself struggling to find effective sleep solutions for her daughter Eliza.

Laura always loved the magical realm of fairy folk as a child and started to see a difference in Eliza’s sleep when she talked of the sleep fairy – a paediatric sleep specialist endorsed method to help children sleep.

To help keep the magic alive Laura wanted a magic fairy house in her room that would also light up and help her to sleep or reassure her if she woke in the night. With the struggle getting harder with every lost night of sleep, Laura decided to create her own design of night light.

The Little Belle night light was invaluable and Laura wanted to share this success with other parents to help many other little ones, like Eliza, to sleep better.

We adore this little Fairy Carry Lantern which we think would be great for nurseries, camping trips and holidays too. www.little-belle.com £79.95

Link between lack of vitamin D and miscarriage risk

Women with low vitamin D levels are at significantly increased risk of miscarriage, a new study reveals.

Scientists say that assessing vitamin D levels and treating deficiency before conception may offer greater benefit compared to only taking vitamin D during the first trimester. They have called for more research to confirm this approach.

Led by experts at the University of Birmingham, the research team at Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage Research evaluated every study into the impact of vitamin D during pregnancy, finding a significant association between vitamin D levels and the risk of miscarriage or recurrent miscarriage.

Vitamin D has only really been known for its role in late pregnancy complication but the research supports another important role for it too, which could help motivate women to take supplements early, said the authors of the study.

Potty Training Made Easier

Make potty training easier this summer while around the house or out and about and away from home with this great little bundle. Thanks to a convenient and compact fold away design, Potette can either be used as a traditional potty, or as a training seat as it cleverly transitions (with the legs fully flipped out) when little one is ready for the next step.

Pottetes expert Susan shares her 3 top tips for taking on potty training, Susan says:

Firstly, children are very intuitive to parent’s stress levels, Susan states, so it is great to stay positive about the entire experience (and try not to be too frustrated when it goes wrong!).

Secondly, Susan says that in order to learn a new skill, a period of stability is needed, so dedicating a good amount of time to make the process work is vital - it won’t happen overnight, and patience is going to be key!

Lastly, Susan suggests it’s not uncommon for children to master potty training in one environment and not in another, so although little ones might be getting it right at home, parents must not be disheartened when hiccups in road happen outside of the house - the rest will then follow!

The bundle comes with flashcards, the Potette, a reusable liner and a little bag to store it in,

The Potette Plus Premium Bundle| RRP £38.99 | www.cheekyrascals.co.uk