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Give them the best possible start

17 Oct 2005

The best start in life you can give a child is a book and the time to read it with them.

What's the best way you can stimulate your child's imagination and whet their appetite for learning? Playing classical music? Buying them expensive toys? No. Forget all the fads and the latest headline-grabbing research, the best start you can give your child in life is to read them a book.

It has been established since the 1930s when Dr Bernardo carried out his pioneering research that preschool children who are regularly read to do better throughout their lives than those who aren't. Since then, study after study has verified the initial thesis that the sooner you start reading to children the better.

Don't worry that they don't seem to be taking anything in. They will be. "In the early days it's important to get them used to learning the rhythms and patterns that go with reading," says jenny Tiler, publishing director of Usborne books, which specialises in infants' and children's books. "Once you've engaged them, and introduced the idea of turning pages and following stories, you have them primed to learn more."

The secret of your child's future well-being is in your local shop or library. All you need to do is to get a book and spend at least 10 minutes a day reading to your child and talking to them. It's important you get feedback from them. Take their dummies out so that they are in a position to respond, if not to ask questions then at least to coo. Failing that, ask them questions. Social interaction is just as important as getting the child to interpret those images and squiggles. "It's no good learning to decode information if you don't know what you're decoding," says Tiler. A book is a great communication tool too, as it helps mother (or father or babysitter) to interact with the baby.

Books are being ignored in favour of TV. Many even use TV as a babysitter. The problem with TV is that it creates a passive environment. A survey of primary school teachers with long service records shows that most say children's vocabularies aren't a patch on those of school entrants 20 years ago. This is because pre-school kids spend more time passively watching TV, and less time interacting with their parents over a book. Interaction with books is very important for small babies. That's why baby books are designed to engage babies in more tactile experiences, with surfaces to scratch and feel, and all kinds of doors to open on a page, or levers to pull.

Today's lack of literacy affects all sections of society. One in five children now enters secondary school unable to read properly. And many middleclass parents are too busy with their careers to spend time reading to the children. It is often an activity they hope their nannies might carry out. The problem with children's books is that they're not fashionable enough. Sadly, people seem more impressed by the idea that hi-tech gadgets, like computers or DVD players, are going to raise their kids IQs. Perhaps books should be marketed as portable, interactive communication tools.

(Babies, a supplement from Mediaplanet distributed in The Times, 17 October 2005)

Tags: Talk To Your Baby