Do you read to your child?

If not, read now and read aloud!

Human subconscious mind becomes operational even before birth.  It is no more a Utopian thought now.  And our subconscious mind never goes to sleep.  It works 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, round the clock.

If so, do we understand and take advantage of this incredible factory of thoughts, ideas and creativity?  Perhaps not to the extent that it should be.

Well, there have been a number of mothers of people of historical importance who started reading stories and parts of holy books to their unborn babies and the results were amazing. The babies recited almost everything that they were read to.
A study, which followed nearly 1,900 children from infancy up to age 13, found that children whose mothers gave them plenty of intellectual stimulation in the first year of life—reading to them, talking to them, and taking them out of the house—were less likely to have serious behavioral problems.

If it did not occur to you to read something aloud to your baby during pregnancy, please do it now.  How old is your baby, three months, six months, one year or two?  That doesn’t matter.  Nothing is too late in life.

Let us start from today. If you don’t have children’s story books in the house, go to a bookshop and buy some for small kids, preferably picture story books.  Remember the movie “Baby’s Day Out”?

Being a mother you must know when your baby feels relaxed during the day and night.  The best time is when she starts drowsy because whatever she listens to would be stored in a better vault of her memory bank. 

It is essential that you choose a peaceful and noise-free place with enough light for her to see the words and pictures.  You must be sitting or half lying in a comfortable position to hold your baby in your lap, close to your heart.  Keep cuddling and stroking her lightly while you read to her.

Now put the book in your baby’s lap and start reading the first story tolerably loud.  Speak every word clearly and slowly while moving your index finger.  If there is a picture on the page, try to hold her hand and move her fingers over the picture. If you child is above three, you can allow him to turn the pages.

You certainly love your child and wish him move ahead in life fully equipped with all the tools and gadgets necessary for success.  And there is no better, stronger, lasting and invaluable tool for your children than knowledge.  Remember that education is just one part of knowledge that your children get in schools and colleges.  The process of learning and acquiring knowledge continues till death as there is a saying by the Prophet of Islam that “Acquire knowledge from cradle to grave”.

By reading aloud to your baby before birth or to a child, you would be sowing the seeds of scholarly growth of a huge tree that would provide knowledge to anyone who takes shelter under its shadow.