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Parenting is a complicated, multi-dimensional task that requires a lot of time, efforts, knowledge and experience. At the same time, there are no parenting schools or universities that would help parents to develop their child in the balanced and healthy manner throughout all the period of childhood and teen age. Thus, in order to be a good parent, it is necessary to constantly develop own parenting skills and pay careful attention to the child. One of the effective methods is to be involved in the development of the child’s literacy and to provide the child the specific literature that can help him/her to reach the developmental goals. It is described in quite a big amount of essays https://writing-service.org/contrast-essay/
Numerous scholars have proved that parental involvement in reading promotion is crucially important for the better development of the child both in the short-term and in the long-term perspectives. For instance, the research by Topping and Wolfendale demonstrated that parents have proved to be highly effective teachers for their children. Compared to other parties, parents usually have maximum information about the personality of their child, thus they know the best which topics may interest him or her the most. One may easily see that taking into account the large amount of children at schools, the teachers usually do not have time to work individually with each pupil and to explain him or her everything in details. Thus, parents’ attention and proper literature choice is an effective complementary to the education techniques. The study by Farrant and Zubrick, which compiled data on 2188 children of different age, also clearly demonstrates the positive impact of reading on psychological, intellectual and emotional development of the child, especially in terms of vocabulary development. The research by Dickinson, Griffith, Michnick Golinkoff and Hirsh-Pasek also proves this idea, as the researchers came to conclusion that reading has great power to create the contexts for interaction that considerably nourish the development of the language. The study by Nokali, Bachman and Votruba-Drzal demonstrates that parental involvement helps to improve the social skills, scholastic achievement and to predict children’s behavioral problems. In other words, numerous researches have proved that involvement of parents in their children’s literacy brings better outcomes than not doing so. First of all, the child (especially in the early age) does not have the same background and knowledge about the surrounding world in general and the available books in particular. Thus, basing on his or her own experience, the adult can evaluate the quality of the book content better than the child. The parent evaluates multiple different factors, including complexity of the text and content, topics covered, educational value, development potential, as well as numerous other characteristics of the source. At the same time, the child does not usually analyze the books in the same context and with the same scope as adult. Secondly, due to the fact that a parent is aware of the child’s psychology, his/her emotional and intellectual development, preferences, and interests, strengths and weaknesses, he/she is the perfect person to help with educational development. Thirdly, the parents play the key and defining role in the development of the child. Thus, it is not the possibility, but rather necessity for the parents to take care and to be involved in the child’s education, especially if they want their child to share the same views and values as they do.
Today, the book shops and libraries are overwhelmed with the wide variety of books for children and teenagers; however, finding the truly good, interesting, though-provoking educational source is rather a difficult task. At the same time, it is important to remember that all children are different, thus there is no single universal variant that would fit everybody. The choice of the book for the child should be based on several important factors. First of all, it is the child’s range of interests. If he/she likes animals, then it could be correct decision to buy a book about animals. Secondly, the book should correspond to the level of the child’s development. If the book is too complex, the probability that the child would not read it significantly increases. For small children it is recommended to choose books with multiple illustrations, as visualization helps to perceive the material better and faster. Thirdly, the good books are usually awarded with national and international awards that are usually mentioned on the cover. Finally, it is possible to ask for advice from the librarian or book shop consultant for certain age-specific and interest specific literature that would impact the development of the child positively.
The qualitative literature supports all the stages of the child’s development in many different ways. It provides the child the information about the surrounding world, demonstrates the positive role models, explains the stories of successes and failures, and teaches to learn on the mistakes of others. Taking into account the complexity of the surrounding world and today’s life, reading is absolutely necessary in order to keep up with the pace of life, as well as the needs and requirements of the 21st century.
The book gives the possibility to discover the ideas and thoughts of people with whom it is difficult or impossible to communicate (for instance, those who died many years ago, those who live in other countries or other places). Also, when the author writes the book, he spends time only once to explain and reflect his ideas, and then the whole world can get acquainted with it. In other words, the written form provides enormous potential of detailing and golden opportunity to save time in contrast to oral explanations. Without books, this valuable information would be lost. Not using this source of knowledge is not wise, as books contain the generational wisdom that makes the surrounding world more understandable. Book is like a teacher, providing practically limitless potential for self-education. The more the child reads, the more information he/she discovers, absorbs and memorizes. At the same time, it is important to mention that childhood is psychologically and emotionally vulnerable period, thus children may find emotional support in the books or to be guided in the relationship problems with parents, teachers, peers and other people. Thus, in this way books serve as an important assistance in reaching the communicational milestones for children of all ages. Also, books have high potential to show what is wrong and what is right, forming the moral foundation of the child’s psyche, and thus being the foundation for reaching moral developmental milestones. Finally, the childhood is the time of learning, the time when the cognitive skills of the brain develop the most. Thus, it is necessary for parents to use this time wisely and to help the child accumulate as much important experience as it is possible through providing proper literature and good teachers.
To conclude, it is important to state that parents should not underestimate the role and place of literature in the life of the child. Parents should be actively involved in the development of their children in all possible ways, including the involvement in the choice of literature and literacy formation. Such participation is important, as it helps to support the psychological, emotional and intellectual development of the child both in the short-term and in the long-term perspectives. At the same time, it is necessary to be cautious, as not all the books impact the children positively. Thus, parents should take a cautious approach to children’s books choice in order to ensure maximum positive impact.