As a Certified Natural Health Practitioner, I am responsible to thousands of patients around Virginia. Repeatedly, these parents are coming in with huge concerns with the upcoming school year. How do they balance the needs of the home with the needs of their child. One of the core needs in child education is literacy, ensuring that children can read comprehend, and then apply critical thinking skills.
Many children struggle with reading, especially when they’re at home and teachers are far away. In fact, even before the recent pandemic, 65% of America’s fourth graders weren’t reading at a proficient level, according to The Literacy Project Foundation. Now parents are saddled with the task of trying to manage working from home, balancing home tasks, fear, uncertainty, and now are of the understanding they will also be responsible for educating their children. Parents are beginning to flood to holistic doctors near me to be able to have the support in balancing all of the demands of life.
Reading is important because reading is fundamental to academic and career success. Books can also add more joy and meaning to life. Certified natural health practitioners role is to educate the public on their health. Health can be broken down into several components such as supporting already over stressed parents.
Fortunately, there are many things a parent can do at home to help build literacy skills and holistic doctors near me are here to help support stressed out parents, and help them reclaim their power in a seemingly powerless experience.
Parents responsibilities now include helping your child stay on track with their education and language development while they’re at home. Consider these tips provided by many certified natural health practitioner s, for teaching reading skills and creating an environment that will encourage a lifelong love for books.
Parent Strategies for Helping Younger Children to Read
Holistic Doctors near me believe that teaching phonics to young children is essential for fluency and reading comprehension. Holistic Doctors near me are educators in the area of health, and encourage critical thinking, comprehension especially when it comes to your health.
Certified Natural Health Practitioners provide these tips to provide your kids with a strong foundation for reading:
- Talk together. Speaking and singing to your child boosts their brain power and vocabulary. You can start while they’re still a baby. Communication is key to any therapeutic and loving relationship. The parent and child relationship is no different. Try to speak to your child, age appropriately, but as an equal. Resist the urge to talk down to your children, oversimplify things, and attempt to dismiss your child’s communications. A holistic doctor near me is capable of teaching you the differences.
- Emphasize letters and sounds. Play games that teach alphabet letters and sounds. Keep in mind that your child’s attention span is limited, so keep your lessons brief and repeat the same material often. Playing games can be fun, and can almost make it seem as though they are not learning. Making letters and sounds as a part of everyday activities can make learning these new things less intimidating and even fun.
- Label things. Kids love stickers, so put them on objects around the house like furniture and toys. Practice looking at the names of things and saying them together. Certified Natural Health Practitioners often use stickers as a reward system as well as a means to educate kids within the practice. Stickers can make identification and recognition of various objects that are found in books.
- Draw pictures. Drawing involves some of the same brain activity as reading. Give your child crayons and paper to help them express their thoughts about things you discuss and read together. A Holistic Doctor near me will often use crayons and paper when teaching children about eating healthy. The certified natural health practitioners will ask the child to draw a plate, with fruits and foods on it as a means to educate children on eating healthy. A similar strategy can be used to encourage comprehension of things that were just read or learned in studies.
- Start writing. Many children can write their name or their first initial by the time they’re 3 years old. You can also ask them to dictate a letter to you and go over it to see which letters they recognize. Children love to learn things that are personal to them, such as their name, they’re birthdate, etc. This brings personalization and ownership to the process of learning letters, numbers, etc.
- Take advantage of your library. Check out the children’s events and materials at your local library. Enjoy what’s available online if you’re waiting for them to reopen. A Holistic Doctor near me will have many books at your local holistic healthcare practice on health and wellness to educate on health and to have a field trip out of the house. Think about going to the park, or beach and creating your own outdoor library if one is not open.
- Read out loud. Make story time part of your daily schedule. Ask your child questions about the characters and plot to stimulate their thinking about the subject. Certified Natural Healthcare Practitioners tend to recommend staying a consistent schedule to create stability and balance within the home.
Holistic Doctors near me offer Parent Strategies for Helping Older Children to Read
Some studies have found that kids read for fun less and less as they grow older. How can you help your tweens and teens to appreciate literature when they’re attached to their smartphones? Certified Natural Health Practitioners share some success tips and ideas to keep you motivated:
Consider these ideas:
- Offer choices. Let your child pick what kind of material they want to read. Graphic novels may trigger their interest in the original classic works. Be open to their choices, try not to control their imagination and their interests. This is about the goal of them reading more, and they will need to be interested about what they are reading.
- Build a nook. Provide a comfortable and attractive place to read. Put a bookshelf full of interesting titles under a window seat. Create a home library in one corner of your living room or finished basement. Make this place attractive and distraction free. This will create a comfortable location to support reading.
- Watch movies. When it’s your turn to choose the movie, pick a film that’s based on a book. It also helps to maintain sensible limits on screen time to encourage reading and other offline activities. It also can create association and support in comprehension. Perhaps you can compare the similarities and differences of the movie and the book. This builds comprehension as well as critical thinking.
- Be a role model. Your kids are more likely to read if they see you enjoying books and magazines. Make reading for pleasure part of each day and talk about what you learned. Discuss what books you are reading, what you are learning, and how this is making a difference in your life.
- Seek professional help. If you’re concerned about your child’s reading proficiency, talk with a holistic doctor near me or certified natural health practitioners. They may need help with a learning disability, or they may benefit from additional resources such as tutoring or more intensive instruction. The certified natural health practitioner has resources as well as recommendations as well as referrals to assist you and your family.
You can enrich your child’s life by fostering a love for books. Start early with teaching language skills and helping your child to see themselves as a reader. As a parent, you can help them to learn and grow even when they’re stuck at home.Be patient and keep at it!! You are doing great!