In a world that is slowly but surely turning away from books and getting glued to monitors or television screens, the importance of developing a passion for reading cannot be overlooked. Reading is a habit and should be established when the child is relatively young. What can you do to encourage this habit?

Enroll your child for reading classes:
There are many well structured after school reading classes that aim to draw the children to books. They help kids with pronunciation, idioms and phrases. For young children, these classes can be fun with animated characters and pictures. Illustrated picture books, rhymes, silly songs and pretend stories all attract the young child. Use creativity to capture the child's vivid imagination.

Stimulate your child's interest:
If your child has a special interest, pick a series of books that feature this interest. For my son, it was trains.

Start a special home library:
A skill like reading cannot be learnt in isolation, start reading to your child from an early age. Do not leave all the hard work to the after school program. Pick up books that you think your child/ren will like. The Internet is also a rich resource of reading games that will attract little children to the fine art of reading.

Join a public library:
A weekly visit to the public library can help improve the reading habits. Let the children browse the books suitable for their age group and choose one or two books that interest them. Not only is the outing an enjoyment, but they also learn other skills like returning what was borrowed and taking care of what doesn't belong to them.