(CNS): The Cayman Islands public library services are promote reading to mark International Literacy Month this September. As well as offering tips to parents on how to get kids reading the local libraries are running a membership with sign up campaign. In tough economic times, parents find it hard to make sure their children have everything they need for school but library cards are free. Libraries support literacy education by providing teaching resources, space for tutoring, information and referral services, as well as free access to music, DVDs, the Internet, books and much more. Library cards aren’t just for kids a recent report found the importance of libraries has grown in 2010 in face of the global economic crisis as people looked for sources of cost-effective help.
Education Minister said the community should make the most of the range of information resources that are available and waiting at public libraries around the islands. He also noted how important a skill reading was for young people. “There are so many ways in which reading continues to be both a vital skill for children to master, and an important source of knowledge and pleasure that can last a lifetime. Nurture it in your children,” Rolston Anglin said.
Studies have shown that the more children read the better readers and writers they will become. However with so many electronic resources competing for kids attention today parents struggle to get children to read. According to the Reading is Fundamental Organization (RIF) if families have books and other reading materials at home then they have a better chance of getting kids to read.
A library card is free and members can borrow up to ten books at a time. Looking in the linrary with children can help parents understand what their kids are most interested so they can borrow books and magazines in that field.
The best way to motivate reading is for parents to display good reading habits and let kids see them reading as often as possible, whether it’s the newspaper, magazines or books. Discussing books that parents have read with their kids will reinforce the concept that reading is an important part of life.
RIF also says that Children at any age will appreciate being read to. Experts recommend that parents do this for at least 10-15 minutes each day at a convenient time as the more children are read to the greater their interest in mastering reading.
