New readers still need breaks from the hard work of reading and understanding print. Parent-to-child read-alouds help beginners to focus more on a book’s meaning. By third grade, skilled readers have 12,000 words in their word banks while less skilled students know half that number. Books hold twice as many rare words as the talk on prime-time TV or the conversations of college graduates. Thus, older readers continue to build new vocabulary by listening to books or talking about stories. How do you make sure read-aloud time is a priority at your house?

Be aware of the number of hours devoted to “screen play” like cruising the information highway on the Internet. Such play has its place, of course. A couple of great destinations, for example, include the website for the TV series, Between the Lions at www.pbskids.org/lions and a poetry site at www.poetry4kids.com. However, spend more time in that other recreational vehicle, the book.

For good reason, the Canadian Pediatric Society and the Media Awareness Network urge parents to manage media use. They urge you to keep television, Internetconnected computers, and gaming equipment out of children’s bedrooms. Passive TV-watching and video-viewing gobble up hours. Kids from two to 17 now spend
more time in front of the tube – an average of 25 hours of television per week in one study – than in any other activity. Of course, if parents are to successfully establish limits, they need to take a good hard look at their own media habits and change them if necessary.

Ask

• Do my expectations match my child’s age and stage in the reading journey?
• Am I careful not to compare the skills of one of my children with another?
• Do we set boundaries related to screen time? Does our family limit TV-watching and computer use to an hour or two per weekday?
• Does a parent supervise media choices?

Act

• Monitor your viewing habits for seven days.
• What changes, if any, do you need to make?

HOURS SPENT WATCHING TV & VIDEO DURING ONE WEEK