Reading Habits in Children

Reading fires the imagination in the child. It encourages quick learning and widens his views, expands horizons and helps him learn about different people and places. It encourages imagination and curiosity. Reading gives children skills in handling complex ideas. But the future generation appears to be at a risk of going straight from an oral to a digital culture, skipping over the writing and reading culture in the process. Research shows that there is a relationship between reading and delinquent behaviour.

There is a flip side to this. Reading the wrong kind of books or books meant for adults, can have an adverse impact on the impressionable minds of the young.

Reading is the only form of entertainment that is also an essential life skill. Reading doesn't just happen. It is a skill that must be nurtured from a child's earliest years. Once children know how to read, they still need gentle coaxing and support to reach their full potential as readers.

When a typical American child starts first grade, he would have already watched some 5,000 hours of television. Another 12 years later when he goes to grad school he would probably have spent more time in front of a screen than in class. Then there are games download, instant messaging, browsing the net. Not to forget audio books and e-books. Consequently reading habits among children are on the decline, Harry Potter notwithstanding.

Our children need help to develop their ability to read so that they can comprehend subjects better at school. Most children with learning disabilities have a problem with reading and related language skills. Children with poor reading skills end up receiving poor grades, get easily distracted and frustrated, have behaviour problems, seem to dislike like school and often fail to develop to their full potential.

Reading habits and our social environment

Kids with poor reading habits have higher chances of anti social behaviour. It has been observed that delinquency, school violence, bullying and even incidense of hacking computers (observed by a conerned parent)[2] have a higher correlation with poor reading habits. This does not mean that those with poor reading habits display such behaviours or poor reading habits are mainly reponsible for such behaviour patterns. But good reading habits help in developing a steady and constructive mind