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Bonding With Books

Creating a Parent/Child Book Club

By Gwen Morrison

By making it fun for younger kids, a parent is less likely to meet with disagreement when it comes to the special book club time. "We write down all the books we have read, and he is encouraged by how fast they are adding up," says Davis. "I enjoy the cuddle time, too. They grow up so fast that this is a great way to get closer to my youngest son. Before I know it, he will be reading Harry Potter books all on his own."

Dr. Heidi M. Feldman, a Violi Professor of Child Development and Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, agrees that parent-child reading time allows a child to experience stories or text more difficult than they could decode working alone. "Parent-child reading allows parents to support listening and reading comprehension," she says. "Parents ask questions to assess the child's level of understanding and can provide additional information when the child needs it."

Reading together is a sure way to monitor how much time your child is actually spending on books. Young children can easily become distracted, even when Mom or Dad is reading to them.

"If people only realized that they do not have to spend hours reading to their kids each day ... just 20 minutes," says Debbie Salintro, a mother and former educator from New Jersey. "The children who had parents that read to them on a daily or regular basis were always my more confident and better readers."

Tiffany Sanders, a mom from the Chicago area, tries to pick innocuous books or books that her daughter knows well. "During the day, though, I will stop the stry and say things like, 'I don't think he should have done that, do you?' and 'What would YOU have done?'" says Sanders. "I really like the PBS shows for this purpose. I like the books associated with them for the same reason, like the Arthur series and the Franklin series. They typically present a conflict or misstep on the part of the character with a resolution at the end."

Want to see more?

• Book It! The Importance of Reading to Your Child
• Too Much TV? Setting Limits on Television Viewing
• Adventures of a Reluctant Reader: Learning at an Individual Pace
• Explore Nature Through Reading
• Talk about it!