Finally a candidate is not soft-pedaling the issue of parents taking responsibility for being their children’s first and most important teachers. In “Obama raps an adoring crowd’s knuckles” (LA Times, Friday April 29th, Campaign 08 section), Obama told the audience that they are responsible for their child’s success in school. As a retired reading specialist, I’m delighted that a candidate is awakening parents to the urgency of their responsibility to turn off the TV and help with their children’s homework. In addition parents need to start reading aloud to their babies from day one so their children can develop the vocabulary necessary to thrive and contribute in our complex world. Literacy begins at birth, and only parents who are there for their children at the critical early periods of brain and literacy development can give children the daily dose of reading aloud and conversation that produces language development. Politicians need to open a dialogue about the power that parents have to determine their children’s educational fate. When parents become more involved, schools will be reformulated beyond the soulless, impotent No Child Left Behind to address a new internet-connected world with issues that are a matter of life and death of our planet. Parents know in their hearts what they need to do. That’s why Obama’s audience was so receptive. Research affirms that TV does NOT help children learn vocabulary, nor do the so-called “educational” videos. Only one-to-one, intimate read-alouds and discussions between parent and child create the magic and fun necessary to hook a child on beautifully illustrated children’s books that lead to language and literacy development. Many parents can’t afford books, but getting books to parents and children who need them can easily be achieved. Children’s books contain three times more unusual words than everyday conversation. It’s the unusual words that children need for higher thinking skills that will determine their academic success. Children who are top students and go on to college are the kids who read for pleasure outside of school. Children need to see their parents, their role models, reading. Research shows that toddlers and preschoolers who are read to and talked to, will have heard 32 million more words by age 4 than children who are subjected to endless days of TV and little parental conversation. It’s the children who hear the most words from a real person with whom they are interacting who become successful adults who will make a contribution to society. As read-aloud guru, Jim Trelease, said, “ If the child has never heard the word, the child will never say the word: and if you have neither heard it nor said it, it’s pretty tough to read it and to write it.”
Tags: Obama and parent responsibility, parent responsibility, Parenting, reading aloud to children, success in school, turn off TV
