Success stories
Literacy Champion inspires young mum
15 Dec 2011
Alexisse from Croydon had her two children, now aged five and two, when she was a teenager. She has spent five weeks working with volunteer Esha, who, like Alexisse, is a young single mum, something that has helped them to relate to each other. Each week they have met at their local children’s centre, where Esha has helped Alexisse discover fun and easy ways to support her children’s literacy development.
Before taking part in Literacy Champions, Alexisse had never been to the main library in her area, but with the support of Esha she has now joined and goes regularly with her children. Taking part in Literacy Champions has shown her the importance of reading with her children and has also made her realise how much her son can already do.This has encouraged her to see the value of supporting his literacy at his age.
ALexisse said: “Reading with my son was something I wasn’t confident to do as a parent – it was a burden to me, another thing I had to do on top of everything else. But this has been really good! It’s pushed me to do more reading, and now we’re doing lots of reading at home. And it’s made me see things about my son I didn’t know – words he could read I didn’t know he could, and he could write words I didn’t know he could. He’s much better than I thought!”
