Hey guys Jon here for todays post! I want to talk to you all about the book that encouraged me to read as a child in honour of the ‘Share A Story’ campaign for World Book Day.
In this day and age most of the reading I do these days tends to be from a backlit screen. Its clinical, uninspiring and doesn’t fill me with the same joy as picking up a real book does. Sadly this is a harsh reality as most of the things I read tend to be factual, informational pieces based around technology, photography and business.
The first book that ever brought me joy happened to be one that came free with a VHS. Whenever I was naughty and sent to my room, without TV (which was quite often) I would read Jurassic Park. I can’t remember how long it was, but it had to be 200-300 pages long, which at the time was probably the biggest book I had ever seen. I must of read that book cover to cover at least 5 times. Each time improving my reading skills, reading quicker, better and paying more attention to the story than actually focusing on the words I was reading.
This was the start of me enjoying books as a child and it encouraged me to read more for enjoyment. After reading Jurassic Park many times I was drawn to books by Roald Dahl, mostly Matilda and James and the Giant Peach.
I would often read the books aloud to myself, which I am sure helped me gain confidence in presenting my work in school and being more confident in myself overall. Even today reading aloud to Elian helps us to retain that confidence of presenting our work to clients when we have meetings. It is a skill that has carried us through our education and work life.
You only have to look at social media to see the skills of reading and writing are being lost and devalued in an ever digital age.
Reading to children of any age, and encouraging them to read with you, helps to not only fuel their confidence of the language, their ability to talk confidently in public but also their creativity and imagination. And they don’t even realise they are learning these subtle but important life skills whilst doing it.
Children are increasingly being subjected to technology and screens, passively absorbing information and entertainment. But if we move them away for as little as 10 minutes a day and actively engage them in reading, not only are we creating a calming and bonding experience with them, we are also helping them develop a great sense of enjoyment for reading and helping them grow intellectually in so many ways.
This is something we both actively aim to encourage in Elian, and even at the age of just 2 he is happiest when sitting on our lap listening to us read to him, or will happily spend time looking through one of his many books. He may not be ‘reading’ them on his own just yet, but he is already showing signs of enjoying books
