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a few words. Photographs become conversation pieces that you can relate words and titles in the book or magazine. It is important to help children realize that words are not something they bark out but that words have meanings.

4. Identify the genre(s) your child loves and flood the home with books for different reading ages, magazines, zoo and even brochures on the genre(s).

5. Choose books that match your child's reading age, not the chronological age. It is alright for your eight year old child to read toddlers' books, especially if he is picking up a more difficult foreign language and is not doing well yet. Remember, the aim is to get your child to love and improve reading which is developed through building confidence and a sense of accomplishment after every read.

6. Have books, magazines, brochures and any readable in reachable corners of your home. A library of books means nothing to the child if the parents do not show them the wonders in the books or make it a habit themselves to use the books. They become merely decor and sadly, white elephants.

7. Be members of the local library and make regular trips and loans. This way, you will never need to make your home a mini-library but still have enough reading materials in your home. If you live in a small country or county with more than one library, make it a habit to visit the other libraries every now and then. Your child will soon learn that there are more resources than he can imagine.

8. Show your child your favorite treasures, such as your first bible or book which you have kept and still read now and then. Share some pages of the book with him and read from it. He will soon realise that books can be life long companions when well-looked after.

9. Model by reading. The best teacher teaches by example. Children can pick up the habit of bedtime reading only if their parents have bedtime reading themselves. Parents can read magazines on their children's favorite topics such as dinosaurs and animals and show them the pictures. Subsequently, when their children get to select their own reading materials, they would be the first to read them. As the parents are doing their reading, they can direct their children to the words. Soon, they will zoom in on the words whenever they discover new and interesting pictures they want to know more about.

10. Make reading an excitement. Some parents feel it is important for the adults to get acquainted with the content of the book so that they can guide the child through.

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