Single dad

A special type of question are prediction questions that ask children to make an informed guess about what will happen next in a story. Prediction questions develop children's logical thinking skills. The key is this: Do not only ask for a prediction, also ask for the reasoning behind the prediction. The principle we must bear in mind is: the quality of a prediction is determined not by what actually happens next in the book but by the quality of the reasoning behind the prediction.

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For most men, the prospect of fatherhood jolts them out of their Carefree Romeo days. While some dads may not receive the impact during pregnancy, their world goes topsy - turvy the moment they find themselves holding the newborn. The transformation does not end there. The journey to parenthood after that continues to have a greater impact upon men's sense of purpose and meaning in life than any other transition that they face. The impact is greater on younger dads because they are still kids themselves. They are faced with this challenge when they still in the process of building their own sense of identity. Fatherhood also comes to them at a time when they are at a crucial stage of building their career and finances.

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Dads should ask lots of questions, but stay away from too many teacher-type questions that make read aloud time into a test.

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Once the book is written and the illustrations are done, dads need to publish the book so that it can go on the shelf along with the other books in children's home library. Perhaps, children can even have a special place on the shelf for the books they wrote themselves.

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When dads read aloud to them, children are learning many different things. They are learning about the world, they are learning to love books and reading, and they are learning about language. This learning about language occurs mainly as children hear, see and understand the language as it is used. This is a kind of subconscious learning that takes place naturally. Dads do not need to do anything special. They just have a good time on the read aloud journey that we and the children have embarked on.

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As children's reading ability improves, they may want to read aloud with us, starting off with just saying a word or two that they recognize. Even children who cannot read at all can sometimes read along, either because you have read them the book so many times that they have memorized many of the sentences or because in a predictable book, certain phrases or sentences are repeated many times.

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The key point is: Dads should not just turn to Page 1 and jump in. They should set the mood first.

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The key point is: If dads practice first before reading aloud to children, they can do a better job. Because their goal is to convince children to love reading, just like sellers need to know their products well in order to convince customers to buy them, they need to know the books they will read well in order to convince children of the joys of reading. So, if possible, dads should practice first.

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One phrase to keep in mind is "Follow in order to lead." In other words, dads need to observe and listen to children in order to better lead them to enjoy reading. One way to follow children in order to lead them is to involve them in choosing the books that you read to them. A good starting place is to consider what books the child has enjoyed in the past. Some children, such as Wan Inn's two oldest children Joanne and Julian, would read anything that they could lay their hands on, and any place was a good place to read - from the bedroom to the restroom - with books hidden strategically in the restroom and bedroom closet for reading.

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There are many types of books. The key point when deciding what types of books to choose is: Introduce children to a variety of books. In this way, we widen their horizons. Here are some book types to consider.

Story books

When most dads think of reading aloud, they think of story books. These come in many types including folk tales, fairy tales, series about one character, adventures, mysteries, scary stories, and tales of growing up.

What about comic books? Don't say no to comics without looking at some. Many people who today are excellent readers, as well as some famous writers, started off reading comics. What is good about comics? The pictures help children understand the words, the exciting plots motivate children to want to know what comes next and the fact that most comics come in series, such as Spiderman, gives children much more to read after they finish one comic book. Wan Inn's son Julian took a big step toward learning French by reading the French version of the Astrix comic book series.

Yes, there are some junk comics, full of violence and other types of content may not want children to be reading. However, many other types of books (not to mention movies and television programs) contain the same type of content. At the same time, many educational texts can be found in comic book form.

Also, just because a book has drawings does not necessarily mean the book is easy to read. Comic books and other illustrated book can be for older children and adults. For example, the main character in Kayla & the Magical Tree is a pre-teen, and the book's themes are probably beyond the comprehension of younger children.

Wordless picture books

Who says that a book needs words? Babies, toddlers, and even older children can enjoy books with only pictures or just a few words. Talk about the pictures. Make up your own stories. Also, many picture books are made of child-proof materials, such as heavy cardboard, that little hands can't tear. Plastic picture kids books are great for reading in the bath!