When my youngest son, Arseniy, finished first grade, we moved to our dacha. The older children had gone to camps, and we were left alone.
I often walked with him in the forest, by the river, and rode bicycles. But I also needed to work—and all this time Arseniy sat in front of the TV or listened to children's radio. He didn't have any friends at the dacha then, and he spent all his time with these "gadgets."
So I decided: I turned off the TV, saying it was broken, and put away the radio, explaining that a neighbor had asked for it—she was alone at her dacha and wanted to listen to songs while she weeded her garden.
We had a large children's library at our dacha—almost all classics. I suggested my son read Nosov's "Mishka's Tales." The book was read in a day, and he came for the next one. I gave him Astrid Lindgren's "Karlsson-on-the-Roof"—and he would constantly run to me to read a funny episode, and we would laugh together. Then he read all the books by that author. And soon he started choosing books from the shelf himself—and still came to share an interesting moment.
Over the summer, he read about forty books—not counting those assigned at school.
I still wonder what it was: successful maternal ingenuity, the abilities of a child who was given a little push, or simply an age that demanded interesting information—and I just needed to point to the source? I think it was all of the above.
How interior design helps foster a love for reading
A love for reading begins not with an alphabet primer, but with atmosphere. With how a child wants to pick up a colorful book, look at the pictures—and then want to know what's written there. Here's what helps awaken that interest.
1. A "power spot" for reading. A cozy armchair by the window, a hanging nest chair, a tent—the main thing is good lighting. I love designing small window seats, surrounded by bookshelves. It's comfortable to read a child's favorite book there, he can flip through books himself and "read" them to toys. And older children enjoy reading in such a mini-library.
2. Accessibility of books. A child may not yet be able to read, but the opportunity to pick up a favorite book and look at the pictures creates a desire to learn. When I was little, there were no gadgets, and to keep us busy, our parents gave us books with bright pictures—that's what became the impulse to learn to read. I know several people who learned to read on their own from such books.
3. Simple shelves. They are easy to make yourself and paint to match the room's style. But it's interesting for a child to look at the books on them.
4. Gentle approach. A very important psychological point: never scold a child for taking books and not putting them back. Perhaps they haven't yet developed the skill of tidying up. It's better to praise them for "reading" on their own and explain that books also want to rest—on the shelf. Show them how to put them back correctly. And even if you have to show them five or ten times, don't scold—just keep telling the story that books want to sleep, and show them again.
My life hack: invent a fairy tale about books—that they absolutely need to rest on shelves, and if you put them incorrectly, they can get "tattered" and even sick. Children respond much better to such a story than to admonitions.
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