On the role of books in raising a child

Sometime back I had written a post (On role of a whiteboard in raising a child) which had got a huge response asking me to write more such posts on parenting. This is the second in probably what will be a series. Please read the disclaimer in the above mentioned post if you're new around here. If you already know me by now, read on!

The Cat In The Hat. (Meez Photography) Pictures, Images and Photos
A few years ago, when my children were much younger (my son was about 4 and my daughter was just a 6 month old baby) I joined a 'Reading group'. It was not a formal group but just a few of us, mothers, with children in the same group who had got together and formed this group. There were a few common factors which bound us tighter than Fevicol, apart from the common love of books. 

Firstly we were all stay at home mothers, who had given up Corporate careers because we wanted to be at home when the children were growing up and secondly we were women who truly understood what it meant to take care of two children all by yourself, being on call 24x7, with no respite from sleepless nights, diaper changing, timely feeding, routines, vaccinations, illnesses, rushing to playschool of older child, managing school projects, packing lunches, taking care of a thousand unforseen minor (and some major) emergencies and still smiling at the end of it all. We all also kind of missed our single days when we could go out without checking if the restaurant had kiddie meals and without looking at any outing from the children's point of view.

The best part about the reading group was that it was for children, but the mothers involved had so much fun as well. The main requirement was that you, as a mother (or a father--though we did not have any fathers in our group) had to be present along with your child. It was not a dumping place where you left your child and came later to pick the child up. We met for about 2-3 hours (the duration depended on how much fun we were having) each Wednesday at one of the homes of the mothers who were a part of this group. We took turns. There were about ten of us --so it meant that your turn to be hostess would come only once in ten weeks and so nobody minded being the host.

The mother whose turn it was to host it, would take all the children inside to a bedroom and would read them two childrens books. The other moms would have a nice tete e tete, sans the kids, discussing a lot of useful stuff (as well as some fun stuff). The choice of books to be read to the children, depended entirely on the host-mom.  After she read them the book, we would all join in. She would have organised an activity--usually a craft or a science activity--which the children would do along with their mothers.(she provided the materials as well) After that it was 'healthy' snack time. The host mom had to provide a drink and a snack for the children and the mothers. We were all, without a doubt or exception, totally against junk food and fizzy drinks  and we learnt to have so much fun and learnt to innovate a lot and be very creative with 'healthy food'. Healthy food need not be boring. I learnt that stuff like tri colour sandwiches and carrot cakes could be as delicious as they looked.

On womens day, all of us mothers went for a girls night out, leaving our children with our husbands who babysat. We had so much fun! Reading group was not only about reading. 

It was in this reading group that I discovered the importance of reading poetry to your children. I still read a lot of poetry to my children, apart from stories that I read to them, even now, almost every single day. (They both love it even though they can read on their own.) The poems I choose vary in range from fun poems to silly rhymes to profound poems and poems that make you think. A marvellous book that I recommend is 




The Puffin  twentieth Century Collection of Verse.

Each and every poem in the above book is  worth a read. Some are zany, some delightful, some small, some profound, some crazy but each one is so rich!


One of my all time favourite poems is a short one called 'Squeezes'  by Brian Pattern. To read this poem and many more by him, you can go here.


I have a large collection of more than 400 Children books (collected painstakingly over the years and all chosen with great  care. In the picture above the cupboard on the left has the Children's books and the one on the right houses mine and Satish's favourites) The stories I read to my children are mostly  stories of courage, stories from mythology, stories from everyday life and also biographies of great people and true stories from history. I have read them inspiring stories like the biography of Abe Lincoln and just yesterday I began to read to them, the life of Kalpana Chawla. My daughter wanted to know about the  Partition of India (as Kalpana's father arrived in Karnal as a refugee from the Partition) and how it affected people and why couldn't people just stay instead of deciding to move. 

The Montessori method of education (which I am a big fan of) says that Fairy tales should not be read to children. But I disagree. Fairy tales are important too. But the thing is there is so much beyond fairy tales. Life is not always a bed of roses like in the Fiary tales.(They discover this the first day that they are at school, where they are just one among 40 or 50, where as at home they are the undisputed little Kings and Queens.) One will be poorer if one reads only the well known fairy tales to one's children.


The other day I read a story by Oscar Wilde to my children. It was 'Nightingale and the rose'.
My son felt very sad about it. My daughter said she hated Oscar Wilde because he writes stories that make children want to cry. Tears are a part of life too, I explained to her. There will be sorrow along with the joys, and one should have the courage to face both. And the most important thing is that there isn't always a perfect ending. She nodded her eight year old head solemnly. It had sunk in deep.


Stories shape characters. Stories are very powerful.
So choosing stories with care and reading them out with love (and later discussing them patiently and truly listening to what your children say and more importantly listening to what they do not say) go a long long way, in raising a child.
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Ps: Do you want more such parenting posts? Let me know. 

Addendum:  I have since then moved many cities and many years have passed. I no longer am in any reading group as my children are now 12 and 8. However it was very useful  when my children were much smaller.


Comments

  1. Hey Preeti,

    taking the liberty to seek some consultancy

    this idea is quite thrilling. i am facing a kinda peculiar challenge with my baby. he largely speaks his mother tongue (tamil as you know) and feels out of place in a english reading group. i instead try reading out books seperately for him and translate it out to him. but i feel thats making him a loner.

    i guess over time it should be fine... if you have any suggestions do share with me.

    thanks for this nice post

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  2. Hi.......Preeti

    Such a lovely post and yes....we would love to hear from parenting posts from you....
    You are so right from reading bed-times tales to kids.....You know... as a kid i had someone reading stories to me and thats how i started enjoying reading when i grew up and was able to read on my own...and now my love for the books is increasing by each passing day....I found that i was so much enriched in all aspects after befriending books and that habit of reading was incorporated in me when i was a little kid.....I m not much into peotry but will def try to read ur poetry recommendations......who knows....another lovely habit could be waiting for me??

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  3. P.S - The bookshelf is so inviting.... would love to see your book collection

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  4. Preeti- I agree with you 100% on reading to children. My toddler loves books. Her favorite one is "The very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. She has many favorites abd they all end up in her "best-book-ever-list!". Reading to them takes their way of thinking and vocabulary to an amazing degree. Thank you for a wonderful post and I would love to read many more of your parenting thoughts and book recommendations from you.

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  5. Anonymous8:26 PM

    I felt just SO good reading this post, I can't tell you. Books have been a world for me - almost a place I inhabit - somewhere I could escape to, the place where I got my impressions of how people were, and how things worked. I could spend hours in a library and have an expression that tells others that I was experiencing Nirvana ;). And my best memories of life have been of me, snuggled up in a bed, with a book, reading late into night.

    How did I become like this? Courtesy my mum :). Someone with a passion for reading herself, it's her influence that has made me not just appreciate reading, but equip me with all of the communication skills I have today - and I can tell you that it's taken me far in life.

    My mother read to me as a child, till I was able to read on my own - after which I was devouring books anyways :). She would buy a huge number of books for me wherever she went, and the best part of her choice was that it was never restricted to any particular kind of books. She picked up a lot of books that had just simple stories, some moral-value-based stories, biographies of famous persons, historical accounts, short stories etc, written in a language that was easy to read. I was deeply influenced by the stories of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Vivekananda - and that was just because the books were so well written. I think a lot of my moral perspective still comes from what I read as a child.

    And I did read a huge amount of fairy tales. Don't think it tarnished me in anyway :) - I enjoyed them, and I think it helps to have that kind of innocent enthusiasm in you...

    Anyways, what you're doing for the kids - your reading group and you of course :) - is amazing, and I love you the more for it. You're equipping these kids with skills that will take them farther than what just school-education ever will. If nothing else, they stand to be better people, and that's saying something.

    Infact, if there is a mantra that I would spread around the world, to all parents, it would be to encourage their kids to read, and to develop their own sense of opinion and discerning power by reading stories, and seeing the world in its different contexts.

    I particularly liked the Oscar Wilde example. Simply because I felt the same way your daughter did, the first time I read this story. And then, over a period of time, I realized that it was always meant to be so. You're right. The real world does not always have perfect endings. It helps to know it much earlier :).

    P.S. I and my mother share a bookshelf - about the size of yours and Satish's part :). It's the one treasure we both share and to this day, I buy books for her, and she buys books for me, and we add it to our collection. The days we both are together, we spend an hour or two, just lying on the bed, next to each other, reading our latest priced possessions :) - and that's another example of nirvana for me. I wish for you that you and your daughter would get to do this, even as she's all grown up , and married like me :).

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  6. Anonymous9:40 PM

    Hi Preeti,

    It is indeed great that you're writing a series which will benefit kids & parents. But why do you have to base it on the popularity or the number of requests you get for more on the series? Even if one parent or one child benefits from your writings, I think it would be totally worth it. So, keep writing!

    Also, since you have such a wide reach among parents, I would recommend one read from my blog about disciplining children. Here it is:
    http://nilufamily.blogspot.com/2010/02/best-parenting-technique.html

    Nilu

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  7. Nilu: Thanks for the encouragement--i do appreciate it :-) Simple reason is that I write for a living :-) Many of my articles have been published in magazines(and i get paid well for them too:P). So unless a large number of people say that they indeed want it, I don't feel like putting in an effort, as it is 'work' for me :-) I must have spent at least an hour writing the above post, (time which I stole from my 'writing my book' time) giving all the links. Plus, like I said in the disclaimer of my first post what works for one parent may be anathema to another. Each parent is right. I hate to preach. Which is why unless requested specifically I steer clear of 'parenting posts' dispensing 'free advice'.

    Shikha: lucky you--the relationship you share with your mom :-) For me it was my dad who put in me a love for books.Same pinch on bookshelf! I came to your blog and realised you have changed template..Please put white background for text(if you can)! :-) And I too read Swami Vivekanand and Ramakrishna Paramhamsa to my children. Agree so much on shaping moral values.

    Gayathri: Oh yes--i have read that too to my children! There are many craft activities related to the Caterpillar."Papa please get the moon for me" is another book by same author which is lovely.

    Rujuta: Thanks :) They are mostly childrens poems but I think you will like them too :-)

    Sandhya: Thank you for the comment.Tamil literature is rich indeed. I am sure your son will benefit just as much from the stories and what you read to him.Reading group we formed as we were all placed in a similar kind of situation. A group would only be as interesting as the people in it. So unless you find like-minded people, where you and your son benefit, it would be a waste of time, right? He would I guess start to need to know to speak one other language (not necessarily english, me thinks--it depends on which place you live in) , once he joins a play-school.(I guess he would automatically pick up the language then)

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  8. Hi Preeti. First of all, I love your book collection. I love reading myself and enjoy reading to my children as well. I love it as much as they do, cannot imagine a better way to connect with them as well. I loved your board idea and now we have one for my 5 year old and in this post I love the fact that you still enjoy reading to them even though they can read on your own :)

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  9. that reading group sounded so much fun and interesting! i really missed that when my kids were small...

    One of te best moments in my day is when each of us are with a book, reading together or by our own.

    Loved this post, Preeti..have yet to read the Puffin collection though

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  10. A very inspiring read - and food for my soul coz its about books and reading :)

    Keep these posts coming - I love them!

    Oh I ADORE your bookshelves - you should do a post on yours and Satish's Top 10 books! And maybe the one book you have read the most # of times :)

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  11. Hey Preeti

    Lovely article. Yes please try to do more parenting posts. Its so useful for new clueless moms like me:)Thanks for all your efforts that go into writing these posts.

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  12. Reading helps in lot many ways..Books are my all time best friends who never let me down under any circumstances...Reading group is such a lovely way to develop reading habit to kids !! Since my mother was a working person i was gifted with my grandma doing the reading to me :)

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  13. Well written. Parenthood is the pinnacle of human development.

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  14. Hi Preeti,
    As always a nicely woven post, yeah i agree the way parenting role has evolved a lot… currently we see lot more book and toys with character are part of kids life.

    In our group, we have few couple’s who have kids (all less than 2 years), i see lot more storybook with eye catch colors and small rhymes.

    I wish to be a kid again, as its not possible i do loved spending time with all those small kiddo.

    Cheers,
    Anish.

    p.s. If passes a wiki link on Partition of India, i have read couple of books on them and i liked "Freedom at Midnight"

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  15. Wonderul inputs my friend. Though M not married. Yet M a huge fan of children. M love them like anything. So daily after work.I spend my time with them( as there are loads nearyby) mostly of all age Groups.

    I am an avid reader. One of the topic that always have interested me is parenting. As i know when a baby in tummy can react to a rhyme he will surely react better if treated in a balanced manner.

    Like the fairy tales serve a very important sociological purpose. The themes deal with the major fears of childhood such as the loss of a mother or father or separation anxiety and confront children squarely with these basic human predicaments.
    It is a particularly good way to teach children realistic thinking, as stories can show children how people realistically solve their problems.
    Reading aloud may be one of the most important contributions that parents can make toward developing good character in their children. Why? For several reasons. First, because stories can create emotional attachment to goodness, a desire to do the right thing. Second, because stories provide a wealth of good examples - the kind of examples that are often missing from a child's day to day environment. Third, because stories familiarize youngsters with the codes of conduct they need to know. Finally, because stories help to make sense out of life..
    In fairy tales, evil is as omnipresent as virtue, as in life, and the duality of this situation requires struggle to solve.
    But why stories? Why not simply explain the difference between right and wrong to your children? Why not supply them with a list of dos and don'ts? Such explanations are important but they fail to touch children on the level where it matters -- the level of imagination. Imagination. The word comes from "image" -- a mental picture. When a moral principle has the power to move us into action, it is often because it is backed up by a picture or image

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  16. Very well said. I too believe one of the best gifts a parent can give a child is to inculcate a love for reading. When it starts at a young age, it will stick and never goes away.

    Book clubs are a great idea. Its a real pity that in India - libraries gave vanished.

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  17. Amazing Idea:) Reading group sounds soo much fun. And the little library you have at home AMAZZZZING :) Quite a collection you have there. Talking about books , the kinda books you read at young always have a influence on you. I keep telling my mom that when i have kids i ll make sure i read to them stories,poem anything that is fun everyday :) I guess am in the right track then :)

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  18. That is a nice idea of book reading in a group.

    When my daughter was 6 yrs old we bought some books which she read it interestingly. At some stage when we asked her what she want? Her answer was always "Books". Even when we went for fortnightly shopping, she would go and fetch some books from store and read until we finish our purchase.

    Her book reading became infectious and I started reading books( which i never did after my college-20yrs ago) and now I have some good collection and still some of them yet to read.And my daughter teasing me these days saying"Are you buying books just to keep them in the show case?

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  19. thanks for the lovely post, and please do some more parenting posts. we arejust discovering stories now(so far it was only lookign at picures and all), and its mostly stories of winnie the pooh and a few fairy tales. but its a start and i hope introduce my DD to other books and poetry too. thanks

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  20. Excellent post! You are such a cool mom! :D

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  21. Momo's ma: Dr. Suess is great for very early reading.

    Maddy: :-) Are you? (buying books for keeping in showcase) :D

    Mridula: Yep! I treasure those books :)

    Ramesh: Have they? Eloor libraries are still there. So is Hippo campus.

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  22. Rhydemz: i agree with you totally about stories creating an image and therefore being more effective. Rightly said.

    Anish: Did not get the 'ps' part..Yes I did link 'partition of India'. One need not be a child to enjoy childrens books :) I still do!

    Inferno:Thank you :)

    Sundari:As long as someone read its great!

    Pooja: Will do. Thanks :)

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  23. Shachi: I guess for satish it will be Wilbur Smith's Egypt series. I too like them a lot. I havent read any book over and over. I like many many. I prefer reading a new one each time :)

    Suma: this one for poetry I am sure you will like. Yeah--you would have fitted perfectly into reading group!

    Lakshmi: Does your 5 year old enjoy the board? How old is your other one?

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  24. Anonymous3:29 PM

    Ah, that's nice :D. The only contribution my dad would ever make is funding the books I and my mum bought ;) - which is pretty useful if you think about it :D.

    Hehe, as for my template, sorry to disappoint :). But I have a *peculiar* aversion to white/light backgrounds. The only time I ever had a light background was when the other dark backgrounds in wordpress templates were too boring to be used :P. Strange, I know.

    And if I didn't say so in my earlier comment - great, great work on the parenting posts. I don't have kids yet, but you're making it really difficult for me to to wait ;). *Hugs*.

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  25. Shikha: Funding is also great! :-)Fun part in rasising kid comes mostly after 5-6 years (when all the totally-drives-you-insane part gets over :) Diaper changing,vaccinations and childhood illnesses, sleepless nights--uff!) at least it was so for me :)You know what--I understand perfectly--coz I too have the same aversion to light lettering on dark templates!! :-) To each their own :) Am smiling now :)

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  26. Fantabulous post preethi. Yes, we would like to hear more about parenting. Go on, may be when It is fully serialized you can make a book out of it on parenting.

    BTW, I am a freelancing life skill facilitator. I too gave up my hardware design engineer job to raise two lovely kids. Now they are 13 and 11. So i freelance now.As a facilitator i visit schools to teach life skills. Stories are our medium to reach the children. The children from class 1- class IX just enjoy the stories when rightly modulated. Each story is carefully handpicked from history,indian tales, international folk tales.
    Longing to hear from you more on parenting and other topics.

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  27. Oh BTW forgot about the poetry. I don't have a fascination for poetry but will definitely try to reach the book you've mentioned.
    Here are a few lines written by my daughter on her dad for her school project. Thought of sharing with you.

    On her dad

    DAd....dearest,
    You are the strongest, You are the smartest
    You wise words hit me like a bullet
    Not ot forget, you are the man with the wallet.
    Dad my hero,
    earns in euros

    When I was small, The only thing i could see was your feet,
    The best part of all was when you got me chocolates and sweets.


    It was very touching and funny too. She has composed one for me also . Felt very happy.

    One line from that goes like....

    You have sewn a lot of love in every stitch, and never have i seen you act like a witch.

    Your style of doing things is classy,
    And you feel everything is easy.
    Sorry for writing such a long mail

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  28. I am going through my exams...and I dont know what magic some people like Preeti have,that binds me to to view her posts..I eagerly wait for these..Eventually I am getting completely 'tun'in her friendhip,and in her personality...
    :-)

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  29. This post is particularly enchanting...I may sound like I'm gushing but I loved it. There are so many bits where I'm nodding at what u've written and so many other bits which I was not aware of at all & I carefully file it away to be used.

    I remember an article of urs on Sulekha[I thk] which had 10 points on how to keep children entertained which I had read long back. I had found it really illuminating.
    Please do write more parenting posts, us mothers need all the help we can get.... honestly they are what attracted me to ur blog in the 1st place.

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  30. Hello,

    I read your blog occasionally. Your posts are well written and interesting. I too like the parenting posts as they give me ideas in handling my child.
    I have a request. Would you mind listing the children's books that you have collected? I have bookmarked some posts by a few other bloggers who have posted a list of books their children enjoy/yed and it was useful for me to buy for my child. It would be nice to have a look at your collection.
    Best wishes to your children. Hope you are enjoying the sunny weather (I live in Cambridge).
    Thank you
    Gayatri

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  31. Anonymous9:40 PM

    I just loved this post of yours. I could identify with everything you said here. I was brought up a regular dose of stories and books :) And now do the same for my daughter. I have a huge collection of books for my daughter and to be honest, I think I enjoy the stories just as much as she does. These days, my almost four year old is in a hurry to learn how to read.

    'Stories shape characters. Stories are very powerful.' - That is so true. There is so much that a child picks up from stories, sometimes the things they pick up are so surprising.

    Absolutely adored this post!

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  32. Loved the post. More so, because I am a bookworm as well; can read them for hours at a stretch.

    When I have kids, I am definitely going to re-read this article of yours and try and imbibe some of it.

    Loved, loved, loved your bookshelf :)

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  33. Hey Preeti,
    For sure now i am not able to understand what i have written my self...

    But i intended to say that "Freedom at Midnight" is one such book which is really liked most.

    You said true that their is no age for reading children, lately i am readin a book "Malgudi Days"

    Cheers,
    Anish

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  34. I read all your posts and I must tell you that while I enjoy all of them, its the parenting posts that I am truly inspired by. I like your take on parenting and I have left a comment before in this context. somehow after reading anything from your blog that is related to parenting I try to be more patient with my kids( aged 10 years and 2 yrs.) you make it sound like It is possible to raise kids without whining and cribbing and complaining all the time..and also have fun along the way. So, well, I am looking foward to a lot of such posts in the future. :-)

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  35. Simply loved this post. Wish, I had read more books in my childhood .
    So jealous of the library :).

    And thanks a lot for the Nightangle story :). I can imagine how the kids must have felt after you finished the story.

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  36. A wonderful post Preeti. You know what, I've been reading/singing poetry to my 3 year old for the last 2 weeks.He loves it and asks for more.
    I absolutely agree with you, kids should know the difficult, sad part of life too. Illness, death, sorrow all are inevitable, there is no point in keeping these things away from them, right? Hope to see more of such great posts.

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  37. this was wonderful to rad. look forward to more. Anyway you can categorize these?

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  38. Ani aset: Thank you..Have put the label as 'parenting'

    Ariel: I guess so--but i am not saying one should keep reading sad stories to kids. Poetry/songs are great!

    Prashant: sending you something in mail :)

    Namita: 10 & 12 are great ages! They arent big enough to not need you and are big enough to look after themselves! Yes--i do enjoy my children a lot :)

    Anish: malgudi days is a terrific read! They have televised it too--done a super job.

    Palsworld: :-) My bookshelf I too love :)

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  39. wordsndreamz: I taught mine to read using Glen Doman method--but you have to do it correctly.(I had trained for it) I too enjoy reading to them as much as they do! :)

    Gayatri: Depends on how old your child is. Mine when they were small loved Clifford series--then Berenstein bears series, also Dr.Suess series, then Frankiln series, then Magic school bus series. I have biographies (written for children) of Hellen Keller, Abe lincoln, Nehru, Gandhi and a few more. From History, i have all the Mughal emperors, also King Ashok, Prithviraj Chauhan, Ranjit Singh, Rani laxmibai (to name a few); A few books I absolutely adore are 'what do you do with a kangaroo;, 'When I'm big', 'Love you forever'. I also have encyclopaedia of modern History (Usborne series); My children love the Wally series too. Plus a few titles like 'Growing up is hard' and 'But i want it'.They also like 'Goblins in the gutter ang gobbling goblins'. They love the Enid blytons too (Farwaway tree, wishing chair, famous five, secret seven) I also read to them stories of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (have read biography too). They like Kalidasa's works like Malavika. tThey also absolutely adore Akbar-Birbal series and Tenali ram too. I also have many quiz books and 'Ask me why' series.(Phew!) :-) Hope this helps. Impossible to list all the books I have :P Basically anything I find inspiring or educative I pick up.

    reflections: Yes--that article is still there on Sulekha.thank you thank you :)

    Asha: thank you so much for such wonderful comments.No need to apologise at all! I loved it!Your daughters poems (both of them)are a real treasure!!(I feel honoured that you shared it) I would love to know more about your work and would love to connect with you. Do mail me on ps@preetisatish.com or give me your email id and I will mail you.

    Shona: :-) :-) Good luck with your exams! After so much praise I need to come back down to earth :-)

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  40. and here I see that I am happily ignored :( sob sob

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  41. Mamtaaaaaaaaaa...Mamtaaaaaa....*runs behind you with arms flailing wildly* :-) so sorry!! I don't know how I overlooked that comment--in fact after you mentioned scrolled up and checked and realised you were right! (i always reply from last to first). Thank you for the complimnt and hope I am forgiven :)

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  42. hehe...*hugs* :D

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  43. Preeti, I left a test mail in the above mentioned id. Let me know when you get it.

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  44. yayy we're past 42 here :P
    I love these posts of yours. I'm not a mom yet but I nod my head every now and then while reading and try and commit them to memory. Then again, I can always ask you when the kids come :P

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  45. Meira: yes :-) Yes:-) Yes :-) heheh Congrats on the Indus ladies pick!

    Asha: Rcvd and replied too.Thank you :)

    Mamta: :-)

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  46. I had left a comment earlier. My children are aged 10 and 2. (not 12) and let me tell you 2 is certainly not a great age!! :-P And having a huge gap between kids is good in some ways...but also has its downside. Anyway was just responding to your reply :-)

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  47. I absolutely love your blog and this post! I am an 8-month old pregnant female and your parenting tips are so useful- I plan to keep coming back to your blog for more. Agree with you on getting your child on to reading - I already feel like reading out to my sweet baby !

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  48. I would want more such posts. And I shall remember the whiteboard and the reading, when my time comes :) Thank you so very much Ma'm. Thank you very much indeed :)

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  49. Hey Preeti: Such a lovely post. Well...i am doing one such book reading session soon with Dhwani's friends. Thank you so much for such posts. Keep it coming.
    Cheers!

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  50. Hi Preeti,

    Thank you for replying to my query. I have not checked your blog for a while and today i was looking for your reply. That was quite a good list for me (my child is 2.5yrs) to go on with.
    Thank you once again for taking time out to reply.

    Cheers
    Gayatri

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  51. Thank you for sharing your experience. It was indeed very touching.
    I agree reading helps a lot. It builds children vocabulary, the reading habit is also developed. Reading stories to children is a great way of improving their vocabulary. Another way of improving vocabulary is by learning new words through practice and gamified approach. www.vocabmonk.com will help in building vocabulary of children.

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