“We may sit in a library and yet be in all quarters of the earth”
One of the most important gifts that can be given to a child is an education. Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world”. Simply, education can be defined as the delivery of knowledge, skills, and information from teacher to student. However, educators around the world have come to a consensus that the word is far wider than that. One such educator defined education as growth, and not just preparation for life, but life itself. It is for this very purpose of growth that children are woken up early in the morning and sent to school, that after a given amount of time, there should be an evident transformation. Not merely an ability to recite facts but a development of the mind. And to this end, there is no greater resource for carrying out the act of education than books.
A lot of emphasis is put on teaching children how to read and how to write, it makes the foundation of most academic journey’. However, once the kids have been taught to how to read there isn’t as much pressure put in on actually reading. It’s like giving them the key to countless possibilities and neglecting to encourage them to open the door. The author Katherine Paterson said, “It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations—something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are quite different from their own.” So instead of getting your kids a new video game, or leaving them with more time watching their favourite television show, it is much better to encourage them to pick a book and watch their imagination soar. The advantages to doing so are innumerable, but the following ought to be enough to convince you
No. 1: Reading enhances vocabulary: Studies have shown that the more books students read, the better their vocabularies. This is because of the fact that when people are exposed to more words often, they stand a higher chance of the words landing in their internal word banks. People who read tend to be more adept at expressing themselves because they have a more varied range of words which they can use to get their point across. So if you would like your child to become a skilled orator, the first step would be to buy a book.
No. 2: Reading improves the memory: Researchers have discovered that different parts of the brain are employed at the same time when a person reads. Reading habitually is therefore a form of exercise for the brain which helps develop the ability to concentrate and think. Reading demands more mentally than watching the T.V or listening to music does, and it is this increased activity that helps sharpen the memory.
No. 3: Reading reduces stress: When people read, there is an evident reduction in their stress levels which is good for both the mind and the body. Research has shown that simply six minutes of reading is enough to drop the stress levels of a person by two-thirds of what it used to be, and when a person is operating at a reduced stress level, that person is able to perform very well in any activity they partake in.
No. 4: Reading increases empathy: Stories provide perspective, and getting involved with the characters in these stories strengthens the ability to understand other people’s feelings. It connects people with feelings and emotions that might to foreign to them but all too real for other people. When you give a child a story you are giving the child the opportunity to have a better understanding of real people which will help to develop deep and meaningful relationships as they grow.
No. 5: Reading makes you smarter: Books offer an outstanding amount of information. It is therefore impossible for a child or adult to pick up a book and not be more knowledgeable in some way. Continuously reading the right books can only result in increased knowledge and an increased capacity for more knowledge. And this knowledge is generally applicable to every aspect of the child’s life.
There are so many other advantages to giving a child a book, and also to picking a book for oneself. Books can help us save money and teach us about our history. It improves creativity and morals and allows individuals to learn at whatever pace is comfortable for them. It builds self-esteem, and imagination and makes people excellent communicators. And it opens eyes to the vastness of the world through the eyes of other people far and wide. So pick up a book today, be it poetry or prose, fiction or non-fiction, inspirational books on how to live, or biographies on how great people have lived. You’ll be glad you did.
20 Quotes on Reading
1. One of the greatest gifts adults can give—to their offspring and to their society—is to read to children. —Carl Sagan
2. Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his needs, is good for him. — Maya Angelou
3. Children are made readers on the laps of their parents. — Emilie Buchwald
4. Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light. —Vera Nazarian
5. So it is with children who learn to read fluently and well: They begin to take flight into whole new worlds as effortlessly as young birds take to the sky. — William James
6. Fairy tales in childhood are stepping stones throughout life, leading the way through trouble and trial. The value of fairy tales lies not in a brief literary escape from reality, but in the gift of hope that goodness truly is more powerful than evil and that even the darkest reality can lead to a Happily Ever After. Do not take that gift of hope lightly. It has the power to conquer despair in the midst of sorrow, to light the darkness in the valleys of life, to whisper “One more time” in the face of failure. Hope is what gives life to dreams, making the fairy tale the reality. — L.R. Knost
7. Read. Everything you can get your hands on. Read until words become your friends. Then when you need to find one, they will jump into your mind, waving their hands for you to pick them. And you can select whichever you like, just like a captain choosing a stickball team. — Karen Witemeyer
8. Reading is important, because if you can read, you can learn anything about everything and everything about anything. — Tomie dePaola
9. It is books that are the key to the wide world; if you can’t do anything else, read all that you can. — Jane Hamilton
10. A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read. — Mark Twain
11. He that loves reading has everything within his reach. — William Godwin
12. I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. — Anna Quindlen
13. Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. — Richard Steele
14. Read, read, read. — William Faulkner
15. The greatest gift is a passion for reading. — Elizabeth Hardwick
16. There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all. —Jacqueline Kennedy
17. To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark. — Victor Hugo
18. Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty. It should be offered to them as a precious gift. — Kate DiCamillo
19. You may have tangible wealth untold; caskets of jewels and coffers of gold. Richer than I you can never be. I had a mother who read to me. — Strickland Gillian
20. Once you learn to read, you will be forever free. — Frederick Douglass