Reading should be a shared experience between parent and child in order to ensure a love of books from an early age.
Ensure your child sees you reading regularly whether it’s a book, a newspaper or a magazine as it will instil a love of reading for pleasure.
Let your child help you choose the books you read together. If your child doesn’t like a book, don’t force him or her to read it. Let them put it down and come back to it after reading something else.
Read in a place that’s comfortable for both you and your child. During and after reading a book talk about the story and take time to discuss the ideas in the book in order to ensure a greater understanding.
Give your child plenty of praise while reading. If they have a favourite book or author let them read them again and again but also introduce an author or book similar in style. Our Like-for-Like feature (see below) will help here.
Parents can enjoy online-time with children as much as watching TV with them. Specialist websites like Lovereading4kids are not only fun for online browsing, but have developed specialist tools such as the facility to download free Opening Extracts and search author Like-for-Like functions.
Many of today’s parents are not aware that there are whole rafts of childrens’ books written by great authors especially for them. These days, children don’t have to be forced to read Dickens or Bronte. Harry Potter is not alone!
Above all, make reading fun.
Archive for the ‘Favourite kids books’ Category
Tips for nurturing a child’s interest in reading
Posted in Discussions, Favourite kids books, Information, KIDS, Leisure activities, Tips for mums and dads, tips for working mums, tagged kids, poems, poetry, postaday, read, reading, reading fun on August 3, 2017| 6 Comments »
Where Have All The (Good) Manners Gone?
Posted in All about manners, Books, dads, Discussions, Favourite kids books, Information, KIDS, Manners, New books we have published, Tips for mums and dads, tips for working mums, tagged allaboutmanners animals aviation books breakfast cars children climate cooking dessert FAMILY food frog allaboutmanners allaboutmanners allaboutmanners allaboutmanners allaboutmanners allaboutmanners , good manners, motivation on July 4, 2017| 4 Comments »
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Cor 13:4-7 NIV)
Perhaps you’ve noticed that good manners have become an endangered species, although they have yet to gain “protected” status. Almost everyone still enjoys being on the receiving end of polite treatment, but few seem to care to cultivate the behavior in themselves-and good manners have to be cultivated, they seldom grow naturally. Clearly there is a lot to be said in favor of practicing good manners, much to be gained by simple politeness, but it takes some real effort and motivation to incorporate good manners in our normal behavior. For Christians that motivation is simply expressed when Paul says that “love is not rude” (or “ill-mannered” or “unseemly,” 1 Cor. 13:5).
Though it can be shown that good manners are of value to everyone and good for all of society, people cannot generally be expected to behave well for a vague or intangible reason. The easiest and perhaps most natural response to bad behavior is bad behavior. Even if we know that bad manners contribute to societal decay and an overall atmosphere of violence and intolerance few people think about such concepts in a moment of anger, frustration, or impatience. Many of the ways that we interact with strangers today seem to be almost designed to promote the attitudes that provoke bad manners (freeway driving, shopping lines, drive through service, telephone sales, etc.) In fact, in keeping with the general decline in the practice of good manners, there are multitudes of training programs today that actually encourage bad manners as a device for personal success under the banner of “assertiveness.”
Some seem to think that the solution to the problems associated with bad manners in general is to be found in fear (“an armed society is a polite society”) or else in regimentation and mandated conformity (dress codes, regulations). These are unlikely solutions though. They do not address the basic problem of (not) respecting and caring for other people. While either fear or rules can provoke an attitude, neither can provide effective motivation for a sustained good attitude. The attitude that produces good manners is a product of training and motivation. People will not behave well unless they 1) want to behave well and 2) know how to. “Love is not rude.” People (you and I) have to learn-again-to value people. Christian leaders are directed to teach people “to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show every courtesy to everyone” (Titus 3:2 NRSV). The gospel of God’s love supplies the motive to want to behave well and the church is to be a training ground for good manners, teaching believers how to behave well. The Christian way of life is directly based on values that demand good manners, respectful and polite treatment of other people-thoughtfulness, even toward anonymous strangers. Wherever society’s manners may go, the Christian mandate is to behave well among the misbehaving. Good deeds truly begin with good manners. Jesus summarized the concept by saying, “Treat others as you would like to be treated.” (Matthew 7:12)
Where Have All The (Good) Manners Gone?
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK. MAKE A COMMENT.TELL US WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT MANNERS IN TODAYS SOCIETY.
My parents kept me from children who were rough – Your Favourite Poem
Posted in Favourite kids books, KIDS, Poetry, Your favourite poems, tagged allaboutmanners allaboutmanners allaboutmanners allaboutmanners allaboutmanners allaboutmanners allaboutmanners allaboutmanners animals aviation books breakfast cars children climate cooking dessert F on December 29, 2015| Leave a Comment »
My parents kept me from children who were rough
Who threw words like stones and who wore torn clothes
Their thighs showed through rags. They ran in the street
And climbed cliffs and stripped by the country streams.
I feared more than tigers their muscles like iron
Their jerkin hands and their knees tight on my arms.
I feared the salt coarse pointing of those boys
Who copied my lisp behind me on the road.
They were lithe, they sprang out behind hedges
Like dogs to bark at my world. They threw mud
While I looked the other way, pretending to smile.
I long to forgive them, but they never smiled
Stephen Spender
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE POEM?
Please Don’t Read This Poem
Posted in Favourite kids books, KIDS, Your favourite kids poems, Your favourite poems, tagged cop, friends and family, handcuffs, having fun, nesbitt, poem, poems, poetry, postaday, top secret on August 20, 2013| 5 Comments »
Please don’t read this poem.
It’s only meant for me.
That’s it. Just move along now.
There’s nothing here to see.
Besides, I’m sure you’d rather
just go outside and play.
So put the poem down now
and slowly back away.
Hey, why are you still reading?
That isn’t very nice.
I’ve asked you once politely.
Don’t make me ask you twice.
I’m telling you, it’s private.
Do not read one more line.
Hey! That’s one more. Now stop it.
This isn’t yours; it’s mine.
You’re not allowed to read this.
You really have to stop.
If you don’t quit this instant,
I swear I’ll call a cop.
He’ll drag you off in handcuffs.
He’ll lock you up in jail,
and leave you there forever
until you’re old and frail.
Your friends will all forget you.
You won’t be even missed.
Your family, too, will likely
forget that you exist.
And all because you read this
instead of having fun.
It’s too late now, amigo;
the poem’s nearly done.
There’s only one solution.
Here’s what you’ll have to do:
Tell all your friends and family
they shouldn’t read it too.
–Kenn Nesbitt
The best children’s books: 8-12 year-olds
Posted in Favourite kids books, tagged chalk pit, jacqueline wilson, literature, postaday, story of tracy beaker, www.poetreecreations.org on April 20, 2013| 2 Comments »
The best children’s books: 8-12 year-olds
From the small genius of The Borrowers to the giants of children’s books, the Narnia stories, Lucy Mangan and Imogen Russell-Williams pick their must-reads for 8-12 year-olds
Stig of the Dump: Clive King
This was the first original Puffin published in 1963. The story of eight-year-old loner Barney who befriends Stig, a remnant of the Stone Age hidden in the local chalk pit, has not been out of print since. The two boys grow to appreciate each other’s eras and skills as they contrive ingenious solutions to Stig’s various problems living out of the junk that is thrown into the pit. A modern classic.
Charlotte’s Web: EB White
“‘Where’s Papa going with that ax?’ said Fern to her mother” is probably the most famous opening line of any children‘s book. He is going to dispatch Wilbur, the runt of the litter, until Fern pleads for clemency. With the help of Wilbur’s wise and devoted friend, Charlotte, the spider is able to live out the rest of his days in safety. You may feel like warning your child that Charlotte dies “as spiders do” at the end of the summer. You should resist. It’s a book that teaches you that characters can be made to live for ever simply by turning back to the first page and starting again.
The Family from One End Street: Eve Garnett
This episodic collection of the adventures (in the late 1930s) of the multitudinous Ruggles family (seven children, two parents) was one of the first books for this age group to take working-class life as its central theme and to depict it with charm and without condescension. They remain as fresh as the day they were penned.
The Story of Tracy Beaker: Jacqueline Wilson
One End Street was Wilson’s favourite book as a child and its influence can be seen in all her wildly popular books, which speak just as directly and unpatronisingly to and about the kind of children underrepresented in young fiction. Tracy Beaker is their totem, an irrepressibly imaginative child (though the staff in her care home say she has “behavioural problems”) who writes the story of her life while waiting for her mother to come and get her back.
Matilda: Roald Dahl
It’s almost impossible to choose between Dahls but Matilda is one of the most borrowed by children so let us pick her – especially as it helps refute the charges of misogyny occasionally aimed at Dahl. Matilda is the superbright daughter of horrible parents who helps free her schoolmates and her lovely teacher Miss Honey from the tyranny of Miss Trunchbull, the headmistress. All of Dahl’s exuberance and cartoon brutality is on display here, just the way kids like it.
Tom’s Midnight Garden: Philippa Pearce
Exquisitely written, perfectly pitched and suffused with a gentle yearning, the story of lonely Tom – who discovers that the gardenless flat in which he is staying returns at midnight to its days of Victorian splendour – is Pearce’s masterpiece. And if you don’t cry at the final scene, well, you’ll know you’re dead inside.
The Phantom Tollbooth: Norton Juster
Bored, disaffected young Milo receives a mysterious present – a purple tollbooth – and sets off on a journey through Dictionopolis and Digitopolis, cities at war in the Kingdom of Wisdom which has banished the Princesses of Rhyme and Reason. It dazzled, discomfited, enmeshed and then enraptured me.
The Narnia books: CS Lewis
Yes, they’re very much of their time and place, an oak-panelled room in the oak-panelled 1950s – and maybe you’ll want to drop The Last Battle, where the whole Christian allegory thing becomes crudely explicit, behind the sofa – but until then it’s a riot of fauns, talking beavers and dancing dryad in a cracking set of stories.
Harry Potter: JK Rowling
No, they’re not great literature. But, like Enid Blyton, they give new readers quick and convincing proof that reading can be fun. For that alone – although I’d argue they achieve more than that – Rowling’s boy has earned his Z-shaped stripes.
The Borrowers: Mary Norton
The Borrowers – tiny people, living secretly in the houses of “human beans” and scavenging therein – are a wonderful idea. The story of young Arrietty’s growing frustration with life under the floorboards speaks forever to children’s irritation with their own circumscribed world. If only we could all pole vault with a hatpin out of here.
Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror: Chris Priestly
Mesmerising, understated, and convincingly Victorian in tone, these grisly ghost stories are beautifully framed by the mysterious Uncle Montague, telling tales of his sinister knick-knacks to his nephew Edgar over tea and cake. A book for children who enjoy being frightened – and a perfect introduction to Saki and Edgar Allan Poe.
The Lionboy Trilogy: Zizou Corder
This riproaring trilogy crams in everything – dystopian oppression, passionate conservationism, villainous relatives, shipboard circuses and a boy who can speak to cats, all set in a petrol-poor, corporation-controlled future. Charlie Ashanti discovers his scientist parents have been kidnapped by the corporation because they’re on the verge of discovering a breakthrough cure for asthma. Charlie must travel to Paris, Venice, Morocco and Haiti, i
n the company of the lions he has freed from a drug-administering tamer, to set the world to rights. Joyous.
Skellig: David Almond
Michael, worried because his baby sister has been born prematurely, finds a curious creature in the garage of his family’s new home. Unethereal in its tastes – which include brown ale and Chinese takeaway – the being nevertheless seems to have wings. Skellig celebrates children’s unfiltered, Technicolor perceptions of the exciting world in which they live. A bookshelf essential.
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