As a parent or educator, you know that reading is so important to the future success of a child. You can take your child to a far off land by reading a fairy tale aloud. In fact, just for an introduction to language, you can even read from a book of poems or any book that interests you. Of course, make sure that the words are age appropriate.

Children enjoy listening to the spoken word, especially from their parents. Later, read together with your son or daughter from a children's picture book with clearly written type. Have them point to words as you read. This will help get them accustomed to the letters of the alphabet. It will also help them to associate words with tangible concepts like the nouns, verbs and adjectives in the story.

At some point your child will hopefully want to read for themselves and it would be fantastic that they don't only read when the reading is assigned in school.