3 Beliefs About Books and Reading To Instill In Your Littlebits
When I think back on my childhood, some of my best memories involve books and reading: going to the library often, reading together as a family daily, sneaking books under the covers after lights out. I remember having weekly lessons outside of my regular kindergarten class for reading enrichment, and I remember my sister hosting story time for her kindergarten class – she was the one reading to her fellow classmates!
Kindergarten Stephanie…loving literacy from the start!
My sister and I were groomed to be readers. My mom took very intentional, yet simple steps to ensure that reading was never a hardship for us. Not only did she give us a solid foundation, she molded our mindsets about books and reading. As a result, we fell in love with literacy and literature.
Now that I’m a parent, I’m hoping to do the same for Lucy. Though I think about it a lot, it doesn’t take much to groom her to be a lifelong reader. Already, she reads to our dog and to her stuffed animals. She wants to help read bedtime books, and she feels empowered now that she’s learning words.
We want to get littlebits to fall in love with reading…bit by bit. We can do that by instilling in them some important beliefs about books and reading when they are young.
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Belief #1: Books teach us.
It’s important for littlebits to know that books teach us all about the world around us. Books teach us history which impacts the world we live in now and informs the world of the future. Books teach us science, which helps us understand how and why things happen. Books teach us about other cultures, places, and languages, as well as our own. They also teach us lessons about life. If our littlebits grow up believing these truths about books, they will recognize the importance of reading and will likely be more invested in the process of learning to access books on their own. It’s easy to show our littlebits that books teach us.
Read nonfiction. For littlebits, this means reading books about ABC’s, 123’s, seasons, animals, holidays, and more. Some board book collections even discuss important historical figures and today’s leaders like the Little Feminist Books and author and illustrator Vashti Harrison’s books about leaders in black history. Our littlebits will learn that books can teach us information that will help us be worthwhile citizens and valuable contributors to the world.
Discuss the life lessons that characters learn. Reading fiction is equally beneficial for littlebits, and it’s never too early to talk about the life lessons that characters learn. Lucy has a Daniel Tiger book about using the potty. In the book, Daniel Tiger learns that he can’t wait until the last minute to go to the bathroom. When he first feels the urge, he needs to stop what he’s doing and go potty to avoid an accident. This book has definitely taught Lucy an essential lesson, and we return to it any time she has an accident or potty training regression. Our fingers are crossed that one day this will be a life lesson we can move on from!
As our littlebits get older and read more complex stories, the life lessons become more complex. Our budding readers will come to understand that books can teach them about life and how to navigate it.
Belief #2: Books help us connect and relate.
When authors write books, they create a platform. This platform, whether fiction or nonfiction, can portray lived experiences. Whether the stories align with the lives we’re leading or not, we can learn to relate or connect to other people based on the exposure from reading a book. It’s easier than you think to teach your littlebit(s) that books help us connect and relate.
When reading, find and talk about the differences between your littlebit’s real life and experiences and those reflected in the book. Because books can reveal so much about the world to us, reading can help us to learn more about cultures, identities, and lived experiences that we may not know about and may not be as exposed to in our everyday lives. Reading about people and places different from what we know can help cultivate empathy, insight, and compassion. These values are so crucial for our littlebits to develop, especially in today’s day and age, as technology has made the world (and all of its diversity) smaller and more accessible, yet divisions have grown more deeply along those very same lines of diversity.
When reading, find and talk about the similarities between your littlebit’s real life and experiences and those reflected in the book. Just as important as it is to read about people who are different in order to build empathy and compassion, it is equally important for littlebits to read about characters and experiences similar to their own in order to build confidence and self esteem. Representation in the printed word is crucial, especially for minority children who don’t always see themselves represented accurately, or at all, in the mainstream media. Having grown up a young black female with my head always in a book, I can attest to this.
Jambo Books is a subscription box company that is on a mission to teach the essential ideal that all people are important and all people belong. They do this by including books in their subscription box that feature protagonists of color so that children can “read stories about children that look like them, as well as their neighbors who do not look like them.” Learn more about Jambo Books and subscribe here.
Belief #3: Books challenge us to think.
Books challenge us to think: about the information they put forward, about the events of history, about the decisions characters make, and more. As parents, family members, educators, and caregivers, we ultimately want our littlebits to become independent readers and thinkers. We want them to be able to analyze cause and effect and problem and solution, both in real life and the written word. We also want them to be able to come up with new ideas, and, in some cases, to challenge those that have been long-held. We can instill Belief#3 by encouraging thinking every time we read.
Ask your littlebit questions as you explore books together. You can ask questions before, during, and after reading to get your reader thinking about the text on a deeper level. The more you do this, the more natural the process becomes, and eventually, Littlebit will be independently questioning the text every time they read. Be sure to provide some think time after posing your question so that Littlebit doesn’t get flustered or feel pressured to answer, as this could take away the enjoyment of reading the book.
Introduce early reading skills (at littlebit’s pace, of course) in order to foster a desire to be independent readers. Lucy has taught me that often our little ones are ready for the next step before we even realize it. Case in point: it only took three views of Leap Frog’s Letter Factory on Netflix, along with about a week using Littlebit Letter Cards before Lucy had mastered all of her letter sounds and was asking me how to read two or more letters put together. So don’t be afraid to start with foundational skills early. Sing the ABC’s. Name letters when you and Littlebit see them. Download and print the resources in our Free Printables section. Before you know it, your littlebit will be looking at books differently, those little brows furrowed deep in thought about the magic of the written word.
We CAN get our littlebits to fall in love with books and reading. Simple actions can help us instill these three important beliefs about reading. Live these beliefs. Love these beliefs. Hang them on the walls in your home. Talk about them daily. Practice these simple actions to get your littlebit learning with love…bit by bit.
Looking for books to practice these action steps? Click here to order your set of Littlebit Book Club books and more!
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