Blogging Parent

- Reading to kids labour of love
Yes! I’ve got to agree with Andrew Dabbo, a children’s book author and TV presenter from Australia. He says that reading to your children is about sharing love. And that’s why we have the ‘10,000 Fathers Reading‘ movement in Singapore. As for me, I try as often as I can to read to Matthew. Not sure if I’m sharing my love, but I know I enjoy spending time reading to him. Not sure if he shares the same sentiments.

- Crocs, kids and escalators a bad combination?
Hmmmm … seems like Crocs are not too safe for children to use on escalators. Crocs are generally quite comfortable to wear and easy on the feet even if you do quite a bit of walking. But I guess because of their soft-soled characteristics, it’s much easier for the shoes to be caught in escalators. However, it should be noted that most of the cases of Crocs shoes being caught in escalators have occurred with young children. And it might be because the children are not standing in the centre of the escalator steps. But it might be a good idea to not let young children wear Crocs until they are much older. For Matthew, I actually prefer him to wear covered shoes so that his little toes will be protected wherever he walks.

It’s never too young to start reading to your children, even if they are still in the mummies’ tummies.

An Australian children’s author, Mem Fox, believes that it is essential to give children a head start by reading to them from an early age, even if they are in the womb.

Besides the educational aspect, there is also the bonding aspect of reading. Research has shown that newborns can easily recognize the daddy’s voice if the daddy has been reading / talking to the baby prior to the birth.

As for Matthew, we have been reading to him since he was born and as a result, he has a tremendous love for books. His current phase is for Thomas the Tank Engine books and toys. Though he can’t read the words yet, he can tell us his version of the stories from the pictures he sees.

(via news.com.au)

Technorati Tags: reading, thomas the tank engine

Quite interesting that over the past week that two parent bloggers were commenting about reading and books, Jesse of DadBloggers and Sherry at Inside Motherhood.

Personally, my wife and I are quite keen readers and I think the reading ‘dust’ has rubbed off on Matthew as well. He’ll want either of us to read to him his favorite books (which currently is the Thomas the Tank Engine series) or he’ll just flip the books himself and talks about the different pictures in the books.

Currently, in Singapore, the National Library Board has this “10,000 Fathers Reading” movement going that hopes to promote reading by fathers to their children. And I was fortunate to be invited to be one of the four ambassadors for the launch last month on Father’s Day (17 June 2007).

Technorati Tags: kids, librarians, parenting, reading

One of the joys of being a father is that I get to read to Matthew. He definitely likes reading … maybe it’s a by-product of having both parents as librarians. He can at times sit on his own and just flip through the many books we have bought for him. Even though he might not understand the words, he can definitely understand the pictures and he’ll either sing when there’s a picture of someone singing or jump when he sees the cow jumping over the moon.

Anyway, I try to find time to read to him before he goes to bed. And he’s likes me to be interactive when telling the stories. I’m not sure if he enjoys it, but I definitely am delighted whenever he climbs onto my lap and passes me the book he wants me to read to him.

His current favorite book is titled My Dad by Charles Fuge.

Technorati Tags: books, parenting, reading