Picture books, as the name implies, are "drawing books". Big picture, simple story, clear logic, cultivate children's diversified development. In many developed countries, picture books are the first choice for children. It is internationally recognized that "picture books are the most suitable books for children to read".
But is every book suitable for children? Is it suitable for every child to read picture books?
Part 1: What is the purpose of reading picture books to children?
Many times, we adults are used to doing things with a purpose. Is that I don't do meaningless things. Then let's talk about the purpose of the picture book first.
When I first read a picture book to my child, I expected him to listen step by step and tried to let him learn simple vocabulary, but it didn't work. Not only the children, but also I almost lost interest. Just when I was about to give up, my child became interested in picture books, sat next to me with his book, and simply pointed to the pictures inside to make me babble.
Maybe my purpose was wrong from the beginning.
Respect the law of children's growth, and different ages can enjoy different fun in picture books.
The growth of children is an advanced process, so is reading picture books. And at first, as parents, we should not expect our children to give you feedback when reading picture books. We should remember that children's early education is lagging behind. In the vernacular, the input and output of knowledge are not synchronized, and the output lags behind the input. Give an example of a small house baby!
Since Aoran's baby 1 month, Aoran's mother began to tell Aoran with a cave book, "Can you talk?" The fixed time every day is the parent-child time of mother and daughter. Aoran baby can only read three pages from the beginning, and it took three months to concentrate on listening to the complete book. From curious search, to trying to reach out and touch, to understanding her mother's instructions to turn over the books, she can hear "Wang Wang" referring to the puppy doll at home. Ma Aoran said, "Reading picture books with children is a precious time to grow up with children. Reading picture books made me forget my troubles at work. I sank down and immersed myself in the story with my children. Let me be more patient and persistent, tell the children over and over again, guide them bit by bit, and tell the truth. I want to give up countless times, but just when you can't hold on, your children can always surprise you, and you have the motivation to continue reading. "
Now, if I have to define a purpose for reading picture books, I think it is a kind of companionship. Parent-child reading, with parents and children, is the world for me and my children. During this time, we can all devote ourselves to a story.
Part II: How to read picture books?
Reading picture books is not as simple as reading a story. In the fairy tale, Snow White fainted after eating the poisonous apples of the vicious queen. In the picture book The Story of Abortion, we can have different interpretations. Snow White ate an apple. Apples are round, much like children's faces. The apple is red. What else is red? By the way, we had tomatoes in the morning. Perhaps, many people think this is not a story at all, but so what? In the eyes of a few months old children, the prince and princess together are far less attractive than a sweet apple. As children grow up, the picture becomes a series of stories bit by bit, and fairy tales are more meaningful.
When we want to read a picture book to our children, maybe we should understand the story first, then understand how to unfold it, and then keep the children's interest in the picture book through various "performances". Don't say that you are not good at telling stories. These books all contain what you want to read. You always know what to say. Then read it out in an affectionate voice, occasionally accompanied by exaggerated movements, and then interact with the children. It is best to open this book. Seeing a kitten reminds children of a small fish, seeing a butterfly reminds them of flowers, and seeing bubbles tells us about the process of playing downstairs with the lady next door yesterday. A high-quality reading time is so simple.
The key point is to help children retain their interest in reading. Picture books are just a reading time.
What can we do besides reading?
I have bought many books for my children since they were young, from Frog to Peggy Piggy, from Uncle Kai's Storytelling to The Journey to the West. All kinds of children's books are filled with two boxes. But it only takes up two boxes.
I have a friend whose child is three years old. I can count the picture book stories at home at a glance. I sometimes think, is it enough to read only a little book? Once, her children opened a picture book full of food, pretended to take it down and feed it to the dolls, and classified different foods into different dolls, which was an ability in itself. And these abilities are the expansion questions of picture books. I believe that when friends read picture books to their children, they must not just read them.
This incident has caused me a lot of thinking. When faced with picture books, what can we do besides reading?
Expand your knowledge? Physical comparison? Look at the picture and talk? Handmade Chinese-English translation?
Just like writing a composition, a word can be expanded into a sentence, a sentence can be transformed into a paragraph through description, and a paragraph can be transformed into an article through expansion. Can parenting be the same?
Part IV: Reading picture books will eventually become a habit.
Aristotle said that it is not difficult to do a good deed, but it is difficult to form the habit of doing it. Ouyang Xiu also said that learning is the first, and learning should be based on reading.
Too many famous sayings and classic stories tell us how important habits are more than once. As parents, why don't we help our children develop the good habit of reading picture books in childhood?
It is better to teach people to fish than to teach them to fish. Teaching children also teaches us how to read and how to get used to reading. Is what we need.
May all our children have a good reading time.