Learning to read is a key part of a child's life, as the child truly bonds with the parent, writes Marie Murray
HEALTH PLUS:LEARNING TO read is a key skill in every child's life. Next to language acquisition, but dependent on language, is the skill of reading. This is why parents invest such time teaching their children to read.
They know that being able to read gives their children an important key - a key that opens many doors to worlds that are real, imaginary, potential and special. They wish to hand their children this key, and teach them how to turn it for themselves. This is because parents know that when their children can do so, they can unlock a particular understanding of life that is available only through books.
Reading is active, not passive. It is the gateway to imagination, to creativity, to insight, to learning and to connection with ideas.
The child sitting with a parent indicating, pointing at the picture in a picture book, naming objects, identifying the animals, mimicking their sounds - the moo of the cow, the meow of the cat - is engaging in an important activity. This is more than learning; this is bonding.
When parent and child pore over a book together, an important message is sent to even the tiniest child. It says: "I want to be with you. I am interested in you. I am inviting you into an important world, one into which I will accompany you at the start, introduce you to all its dimensions, one in which you may later venture alone enjoying all the richness, magic, enchantment, knowledge and inspiration it can provide for the rest of your life."
Opening a book opens a window on the representational world. It teaches use of time, helps concentration, assists independence, encourages performance, supports factual learning, invites imaginative thinking and introduces new challenges. Reading allows access to people whom one may never meet, to fictitious characters whom one may "encounter", and to stories ancient and new.
Reading provides access to places that are vivid - surreal or actual locations to which one might travel someday. When a child realises that he or she can read, that these symbols on the page have meaning, that the code is decipherable, consistent and comprehensible, the power that is given that child is immeasurable.
Of course, some children need no encouragement to read, but others need support and a catalyst to motivate them. That is what makes the forthcoming MS Readathon 2008 an ideal prospect for every parent and child, because there are so many opportunities packaged in this one project for parents to inspire their children with.
The MS Readathon 2008 combines the joy of reading with the chance to raise money for others by doing so, to support people who suffer with the disabling neurological condition of Multiple Sclerosis, which affects more than 7,000 Irish adults and those who share their lives.
Reading to support MS also affords older children the chance to understand more about health and illness, to be sensitive to the restrictions that illness can bring, and to value their own good health if good health they enjoy.
Group activities are also attractive to children. There is something inspirational about being involved in a group venture, and pride in participating in a national project that is recognised, valid and worthy. This kind of participation is especially significant in a child and young person's formative years. The seeds of care, of altruism, of social consciousness, and even of future professional directions in the caring professions, are sometimes laid down in the most esoteric ways. There is, within this Readathon project, the potential to engage with that part of the personality.
In addition to the advantages for the individual child, because schools can participate in the Readathon project, doing so binds students together with pride in their schools and in healthy competition with other schools for prizes for their school library. It is great for students to know that their efforts have secured reading material for future generations of pupils in their own school.
Finally, children have the possibility of winning individual prizes. The experience of winning and the experience of not winning are both important developmental and learning opportunities in children's lives. They support psychological development, so that a project such as the MS Readathon that provides reading, awareness, altruism, motivation and learning cannot be a bad venture for children to enter into.
• Clinical psychologist and author Marie Murray is director of Student Counselling Services in UCD
• For more information on the MS Readathon visit www.msreadathon.ie or tel: 1850-650 950