KIDS WRITE, PART VI
Experts in the educational field have found that it is best to begin teaching children to write at an early age, and that reading and writing are “best learned together.”
Formal instruction may not commence until a child is six, seven, or even eight years old, but that does not mean a younger child cannot grasp the fundamental concepts of reading and writing.
Learning to read begins the first time a mother opens a picture book and reads it to her baby.
Repeated daily interactions between parent, child, and books soon form the foundation that will one day motivate that child to learn to read on his own.
Likewise, when a child is introduced to words printed on a page, he is already gaining the preliminary understanding that letters form words, words form sentences, and these words and sentences express ideas.
During recent decades there has been an increasing push for parents to read to their children. Research has shown that when parents and children read consistently together, literacy improves.
The same holds true with writing.
In their report Because Writing Matters, The National Writing Project makes the following observation: “We cannot build a nation of educated people who can communicate effectively without teachers and administrators who value, understand, and practice writing themselves.”
Might I suggest that we cannot build a nation of educated people without parents who value, understand, and practice writing themselves. Teachers and administrators may have the expertise and curricula to educate mass numbers of students in the more technical side of writing, but no teacher is more effective in instilling within a child the love of writing than a parent who loves that child and who teaches by example.
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