"Where before there was a spectator, let there now be a participant" (Bruner, 1983:60).

After reading the information on “How Children Learn,” I really related to the section on “Learning to Read and Tell Stories.” I have always believed that having a parent read to their children was part of growing up. I have fond memories of my mother and father reading to me alone and also to me and my brother together. I remember certain books and purchased those for my own children because I loved them so much. That reading time with my parents brings back warm and comfortable memories but apparently it also provided an impetus to the growth of my language skills and my connections to personal experiences. I think most parents know that reading to your children is a good thing but I am sure that they don’t think through all the learning skills that this activity enhances.
I see reading to your children as a bridge to many skills that help children develop. Reading leads to practice with language, increase in vocabulary, development of narrative skills, dialogue and comprehension-fostering activities. It is also the stimulus for parents and children to share common experiences that come up as a result of reading a book and thereby increases the opportunity for communication.
I must confess that I read more to my son Steve, than I did to my twins, Sydney and Samantha. Steve is 2 ½ years older so we had time together, just the two of us. When the twins came along, I still spent time reading to all of them but things were much busier at our house. I can see a difference in the writing levels of Steve as compared to the twins and also in their ability to tell a story verbally. Steve has always had a great grasp of vocabulary and organization where the twins must work much harder to accomplish the same thing. I don’t know if I would attribute the difference solely to less reading time with the twins, but I am certain it played a factor. The girls are hard pressed now, at age 15, to tell me a lot of book titles they remember from when they were younger, although they can remember a few. Steve, at age 18, can rattle off an entire list and frequently reminds me of one of his favorites, “The Grouchy Ladybug” by Eric Carle. Steve and I read this book many times and when he was about 4 he came to me one morning to tell me that he had an interesting dream. He proceeded to recall his dream in the form of a story with the same rhythm and sentence structure as in the “Grouchy Ladybug.” Steve replaced the Ladybug in the original story with his sister, “Grumpy Sydney” who led a band of escaped animals from the zoo on her motorcycle!!!
Sydney really isn’t grumpy and she and Samantha and Steve will occasionally dig out some of the old books, and we STILL will sit and read them together.