by Marijane Suttor

Created on: November 16, 2008   Last Updated: June 23, 2010

A common phrase that applies to education is capturing "teachable moments". A common tactic by parents is to sneak vegetables into other foods so their kids will eat them. Marry the two concepts in order to find an effective way to encourage reading and writing skills.

Although reading long books and writing long essays have their obvious benefits, it doesn't need to be a grand nor lengthy assignment to garner benefits in the realm of reading and writing. Parents should look for simple places to incorporate reading and writing in order to reap the benefits of teachable moments while at the same time sneaking in these two valuable skills.

BE A GOOD EXAMPLE

Kids are watching and parents are their most valuable role models. It is difficult to portray to kids that reading and writing are important if children do not see Mom and Dad reading and writing. Kids should see parents turning off the television and stepping away from the computer to sit down with a good book or even a print newspaper. Take an undergraduate, graduate or online course to update skills and allow the child to see that Mom and Dad study too. All too often there is a disconnect between the child working on these skills and the parent maintaining these skills. Show the child something that is being written for work, so that the child sees that writing is important in the workplace.

AT THE TABLE/AT THE DESK

Instead of telling a child to go play when working on something to read or write, allow the child to sit at the table or the desk. Provide materials for the child to work on at the same time. There are many great workbooks that can be purchase that reinforce writing and reading skills. If the child is in school and has homework, allow the child to do homework along side the parent doing reading and writing tasks. It becomes a communal task as a result and habits will be established that will continue on into the future.

MAKE IT TACTILE

Pre-school and elementary school teachers often teach the basic writing and reading skills with tactile lessons. Consider spelling words in chocolate pudding on a big piece of paper or using popcorn to spell out the word "popcorn". These types of tactile associations make the beginning writer think that it is fun and as well as remembering the spelling. Language becomes part of art and food. For reading, using felt story boards and having a child tell imaginary stories aloud to accompany the story board is great. This can be done with stuffed animals or paper dolls too.

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