Fostering a reading habit

Reading is more than something we do just when we are told to. Beyond it, reading can be one of the best hobbies to pursue, a truly pleasing experience, or a habit in itself. And books, besides helping escalate our creativity and imagination, are a man’s true and unfailing companies. For many, to whom reading is a habit, it is a culture learnt early on. Bindesh Dahal, an avid reader, recalls his childhood he spent in the company of books. “I used to read many children’s magazines and stories my father bought for me,” he says, adding that it was during those days that he began enjoying the pleasure of reading. Slowly, his reading habit took a steady speed until he turned out to be a true book lover in his youth. Fostering a continuous reading habit surely broadens one’s knowledge. But reading at the same time can be equally a lot of fun. By putting our interest and imagination into it, we can actually live it. To those who want to make reading a habit, The Week finds out ways to start developing this habit in your daily life until you possibly turn out being a true book lover. Pick up a book The first thing you need is to be near books. Find anything to read – magazine, stories, or novels. Read them whenever you have spare time. Carry them with you when you are out of home, so that you can turn to them while waiting in a queue or in a doctor’s clinic. Being in the company of a good and delightful book during those waits is a pleasing experience. It will make you want to return to books again and again. And slowly they start to become your friends. Start off with the short ones If you are not a big book lover, you don’t necessarily need to settle down with bulky books. Instead, choose from short and intriguing stories. Don’t put much pressure on yourself. Those stories will automatically pull you towards them, and through them you initiate the reading habit. Gradually, you can move to lengthier novels and non-fiction. Go with your taste You enjoy reading all the more if you pick up books that have themes of your taste. Figure out where your interest lies, whether it is science, literature, horror, comedy, sports, romance, or biography. Choose any one between fiction and non-fiction, pick up a best-seller in the theme, and get started. You will enjoy it without fail. Go slow As you read, always remember that there is no need to rush or push yourself through a book just so that you can finish it. If you read it at your pace, you will develop a liking for it. Instead of just hurrying through the plot, try paying attention to the language and style, filled with variations and nuances, that make your reading all the more enjoyable and worthwhile. Always pause to understand the meanings of complex words, and take time to refer to dictionaries. Find a good place and time, make yourself a good cup of coffee and settle down to read with it. Read to your child If you are a parent to young kids, this is the right time to inculcate reading habit in them. Read them from storybooks; let them see the text and pictures, make them think over the characters and events at length. The more their imagination is stimulated, the likelier they are to love books and pick up one to read for themselves. Interestingly, while this can guide your child into liking and reading books, in the long run, you also find yourself reading more frequently and routinely. Tell them incomplete stories Tell your children stories, stories about myths, fairies, aliens and distant lands. Kindle their curiosity, and just as when they are highly interested, stop and ask them to guess the rest of the story. Leave them hints with regards to where they can find and read the whole story. This will drive the child towards the book and motive him to read the whole length for himself. But, as you do this, make sure you have plenty of books at home for your child’s access. source: http://theweek.myrepublica.com/details.php?news_id=68486
Published on 2014-01-24 12:46:36