Building Reading Habits Where Good Reading Habits In Children are Fewer

How many times does research say it takes to build a good habit? Well roughly 66 times but reading also requires attention, focus, and interest of a child. The longer you can create this interest the better advantage you have in building that reading muscle. It is not a simple task where only some worn and older books exist in homes and schools. If you study the other end of this spectrum where children grow up without creating reading habits well they do the best they can with what they have. I've often heard from great humanitarian workers that education is the solution to poverty conditions. If more children grow up with poor or no reading habits the trend is not usually an emphasis on reading. There are many times my own mother called me in from play to stop and read. These good habits need to start from our youth.

A reading brain gets new ideas from reading books and the more books it reads the more constructive ideas come. So when I got up morning after morning where we were helping children and there was no water running out of the faucet I asked, "Why?" The answer was when everyone was using the water supply in the area then no water comes out of the faucet. My brain constructively thought, "Then I will install a water tank so it will slowly collect water overnight and we can have water in the morning!" Nope, not for an older man that was used to pushing a wooden cart for 2 miles to get water for his family for years. He said, "That water tank is just stocking water!" I replied, "What do you think a water tank does?" "It stocks water!" Well so much for the difference between the thinking of a reading brain and a non reading brain.

Good books can sit on a shelves as long as you want to but until a reading habit is build those books will sit there to collect dust. Most of these books I've read so I know the value of these books not only to give information but the authors promote good things as team work, building credibility in leadership, ethics, integrity, and family values. If there is not collective efforts of parents in the immediate area to promote efficiencies in reading then go find people that do and that's just what I did.

I visited schools and observed conditions of learning. Books were few. Desk were old and worn. These schools endure heavy flooding as earlier this year. The teachers do a lot out of their own pockets and these teachers will run out of money for food for their own homes. I have many times complimented the dedication of these teachers to do much with so little. There is usually a lot of writing on the blackboard for children to copy down is a good thing but there are few resources for children to sit down, grab a book, and exercise reading attention. In most of these classrooms forget about overhead projectors and electronic equipment to aid education. We've checked some children's book bags and they are mostly empty. Some of the children were happy to put some books in them from the development and learning center. I was glad to see the earnest interest of children getting some books. I'm sure the children were happy just to have empty book bags.

Reading has to start with a spark of interest from children. It does it take an average of 66 times to build good habits because there is a process in the brain for undesirable habits called, "pruning". Everything other than a focus for reading has to be dismissed from the child's mind. Of course the interest of parents or non interest reflects on whether they want to make loud noises to disrupt the child's reading efforts or contribute at least some quietness so the child can accomplish focus on reading. We learned some things from the development and learning center we built about adults that have no interest in children reading. There is a reason why librarians require quietness in their libraries. If you come in an talk loudly you will hear a "Ssssshhhh!" A child's brain needs to exercise focus longer and longer to build a reading brain. When a smoking adult comes in loudly to the learning center he quickly finds a way to extinguish his cigarette and exit to respect children reading. In the next larger development and learning center we build there will be a requirement for adult training on subjects as creating reading attention in children or even simpler subjects as burning plastics and trash near open homes enhances child asthma and upper respiratory problems. Adult learning is important to enhance children's learning abilities.

There is an earnest desire for books in schools that have few resources of school books. Children's Compassion Association International finds ways to create children's interest in study. One of the best avenues is to help school staffs and teachers that are glad to have them. Getting school books to these areas is not an easy chore. There are long days, weeks, and months involved in collecting good books, packing them, and building a place for them until building reading interest can be worked on. Always remember opportunities comes in cycles but in creating reading interest in these areas its studying the needs and being able to supply the need for education. All the cost are worth the efforts in promoting children's education.

Interest, patience, kindness, and time grows reading habits from a start. If it take 66 times to build a habit and the attention span of a child varies at different ages up to 15 minutes then for an accomplished reader to read 52 books in a year his reading muscle wasn't formed in a day. Here it takes consistent efforts of parents to divert the attention of children away from a television screen or a computer game. How many times do we take our children on trips to the public libraries? In these areas where we help children they only wish they had a library. We will keep working on making educational dreams come true.

Children's Compassion Association International will be at 700 Keeamoku Street, Honolulu, Hawaii. this Saturday (December 22, 2018) to appreciate your interest in helping children learn. You will see us in front of the store with a donation bucket, a couple of nice signs, and some smiles to thank you for your donations in our efforts to help reading. We learned and practice in helping less fortunate children to higher learning it's more than providing books and encouraging reading. There are basis needs of children as food, clothes, hygiene items, and first aid items that are needed so children will be able to focus on their education. We are excited about our the growth of our efforts to help children here and beyond. We encourage leaders, teachers, parents, teenagers, and children to join with us and grow our efforts for encouraging literacy and children performing math.

If you want to increase ethics, family values, and good principles in the minds of children the time to start is now and work with children consistently. Encouraging reading is a great Christmas present for children. They will appreciate your efforts years down the roads of life.