Teaching your Child to Read

Parents always think that teaching their child to read is a big deal. They buy expensive “How to” phonics kits, or Baby Einstein CDs and approach the Kindergarten teacher wringing their hands anxiously, and asking, “What should I do to help Lucy with reading”?
The most important thing to do is to relax and have fun with it all. However, you do need to start at the beginning and the beginning is the fetus.
Even before your baby is born, and certainly immediately afterwards, you must read to her. It does not really matter what you read, although the phone book could be boring for everyone, but do not steer away from adult material. The incipient human being in your uterus will respond to the sound of your voice as soon as she can hear. She will absorb the rhythm and musicality of the human voice so poetry, Shakespeare or good children’s literature will provide you with suitable resources to instill the growing brain with a love of the English language. Your baby will associate beautiful language with her caring parent and grow to love both.
As soon as baby is born, take her on your lap and read with her any of the amazing picture books now available for children. Again, do not worry if she is too young to understand. Show her the pictures, point to them as you read and read in an animated and loving way. Create a special time in the day for this sharing activity and you will be surprised at how soon your little person will come to expect and enjoy it. It is a good idea to make it a pre-bedtime routine that will help the child unwind from the days’ activities.
Soon your child will start to take notice of pictures and point to them with you, imitating your articulation of the words. She will pick out favorite books for you to read and demand that you read them over and over again. This repetition is often tedious for parents but it is a very important pre-reading activity as the words and story eventually become so familiar that the child can “read” them from memory. This is a scaffolding for real reading and should not be dismissed as mere “memorizing”.
As soon as your child begins to show interest in what you are reading you should point to each word and eventually encourage your child to track the words with her own finger.
Most importantly, make this time a loving and enjoyable experience and your child will look forward to it and ask for it every day. Never put pressure on the child to do more reading than she willing to do, as even a school-age child should enjoy reading activities. A young person will not thrive on force-fed words but will feed willingly on a smorgasbord offered with love.

The Swine Flu

This year’s Swine Flu pandemic has panicked the world into a serious assessment of health care efficiency. Vaccines are not yet universally available and as it becomes more likely that most of us will not be eligible for vaccination before this wave of the Swine Flu is well on its way out, it is important that we take responsibility for our own health and learn how to avoid getting sick.
Although the Swine Flu is a very infectious virus that is causing great concern at the moment, the Flu, of one kind or another, is around every year and we need to know how best to deal with it whenever it occurs. The following are the most important things we can do to protect ourselves.


• Wash hands frequently and for at least 20 seconds. This should be done especially after using the bathroom and before eating and if soap and water are not available use an antibacterial alcohol-based hand spray. These can be bought in handy sizes to carry in the pocket or purse.
• Wipe clean door handles and keyboards or any surfaces touched frequently by others. This applies to gym equipment, desks and photocopiers etc. etc. If it is not possible to clean frequently then wash your hands again!
• Catch coughs and sneezes in the crook of your elbow. Of course, it is best not to sneeze or cough in public, but if you must, keep it to yourself. If you cover your mouth or nose with your hand by mistake – wash your hands again!
• Get plenty of sleep. Burning the candle at both ends, merely depletes the candle.
• Keep as healthy as you can. Do whatever you do usually to keep healthy only in spades. Have a daily walk in the fresh air to keep your lungs clear and oxygenate the body. Eat lots of fruit and vegetables. Take vitamins- especially vitamin C and D. And if you do all this and still get sick –
• Stay home until you are completely well. Do not be a hero and come to the office before you are fully recovered. Your colleagues will not thank you for it.

And in case you come down with the Flu in spite of all this good advice, stock up on some good books, juices, and chicken broth, turn off the computer and the Blackberry and stay in bed for a week.