Night Library | 2010

We somehow managed to get Jakjak into reading. And as such, we have amassed a good number of books for him. He does not read yet, unfortunately, but at least the drive is there. We have already put aside books that were not for his age anymore like shapes, colors and big drawing types. Although occasionally he manages to find the hidden treasure box and asks us to read his old books. Those books used to take us 2 minutes to finish back when he was 2 years old. now it takes us 1 and 1/2 minutes. You just can't satisfy a child's curiosity. Add to that the fact that they are able to find the most minute detail in a picture book made for children under the age of 3!

We are now into Dr. Seuss. And strangely enough, the stranger the book, the more interesting it is for Jakjak. Cat in the hat is just a tiny part in the imagination of Dr. Seuss. In fact, you can probably live in a whole planet of weird with all the characters in these books. And although we feel that there are some words that are still not suited for his age, parental guidance helps with controlling what goes into a child's mind (we now have the ability to automatically replace the word "stupid" with "silly" out of any reading material no matter the font face). 


We are also a regular now in the public library where there are lots of "free" books. At least free for two weeks. I believe it's a good thing to start them early on reading. It enhances his vocabulary and is a great excuse for dad to spend some quality time with baby without breaking his back playing horseback (dad of course being the horse). I do my best to read at least 2 books a night, all of which I have to go into character to keep him busy. I know he's paying attention because I play with the words and he corrects me every so often. In fact, you can't skip pages because he absolutely knows the books inside and out now.


In general, we choose books with nice, friendly pictures and big enough text. We match it with his attention span and his interests (cars, faeries and families) and only buy it if we know he really likes it. We had books that he read for one week and we have books that he has been reading for months! We do our best to get into the habit of reading to him and we have a regular schedule now. Unfortunately, "schedule" does not mean the time of the night, it just means the sequence of events before he goes to sleep (bath, brush teeth, story, sleep). Still, we prefer this than having fall asleep in front of the telly (he already does that for his afternoon naps).