Attended some parenting talks organised by PLMGS (Primary) during Joann's first week in Primary 1. I found the talks helpful and wish to share some key take-aways from the sessions:
Good Manners
Teaching good manners is a fundamental aspect of parenting as it's every parent's wish for their children to be well-liked by people. However as parents, we must remember that good manners start with parents as our children watch our behaviours and actions.
Another good point to note, is that we should also learn to praise our children whenever a positive behavior is displayed, rather than overly focusing on correcting their negative behaviors. Let's cultivate good manners in our children by adopting a balanced approach.
Cultivating a Habit of Reading
The speaker stressed on the importance of cultivating the love for reading in young children. Besides the advantage of gaining knowledge from reading, a reading habit creates the opportunities for parents to bond with the children, stretch their imaginations and train their concentration. Here are some tips to make reading more interesting and captivating for the young minds:
(a) Start with a storybook with a topic that interests your child. For Joann, we started with her favorite princess stories. For Jayden, we started off with books on race cars.
(b) Start by talking about the pictures in the storybook, to draw the child's attention. This is why storybooks for children, always come with colorful pictures. Then, read the storybook as well as point to the words so that your child will gradually learn to identify the text.
(c) When reading the storybook to your child, parent should vary his/her voice, preferrably in accordance with the story characters, to make it more interesting.
(d) After reading the book, you can discuss about the story with your child i.e. talk about his favorite character, the most exciting part, etc
(e) Keep the story reading time short and regular. A reading routine like reading before bed-time daily, will go a long way to cultivate a habit in your child. Choose a routine that best fits you and your children.
(f) Remove distractions such as TV, computer games, radio, etc operating in the background, during reading time.
