All babies have good recognition memory and novelty preference so they likely enjoy looking at pictures and word cards with their parents. Perceiving patterns and connecting symbols with meaning is what reading is all about. Babies and toddlers likely begin as right brain readers who pick up reading as easily as they pick up three languages if all three languages are spoken by their caregivers between birth and age 3. (If one waits until age 6, it’s not so easy for the child to pick up three languages simultaneously. The baby brain, not the 6-year-old brain, has special language and reading capacities.)
Therefore, how much more important it is to read to your baby early on when they can grasp words and pictures and piece them together. When you start reading early on with your baby you’re instilling the love of reading in them for years to come.
Remember to pace yourself if it’s not the right time for word games or picture cards stop immediately and go back to it again. Even while they are babies they can be turned off to the reading game even though you may think they don’t have the ability to be “turned off.” If they can pick up multiple languages before the age of 3 they can pick up a lot more than us parents think. Underestimating a baby’s ability to learn is the problem we have with illiteracy in young children today.
Join me in putting a stop to illiteracy and spread the word to all Moms of infant children that their babies can learn and read NOW.
Refer them to our blog or they can contact us with any questions they may have.
Thanks for supporting us and partnering with us in this mission.