So, if you're here, you must be looking for how to get your child some 'early learning', some essential 'children books', the likes. I know times have changed, but I'm pretty sure we are some time away from the prospect of a 4-year old looking on Google for 'which books should children read'. Hopefully. Besides - wait a second. I just got a request for a reading list. From my 6-year old cousin.
Bad jokes aside, when in the vicinity of children nowadays, you must have noticed a type of 'intensive learning', with parents asking their kids to say ABCD, getting them to repeat spellings and recite tables. This while they are In the middle of the market, while they are crossing the road, and in between dinner. There are all sorts of classes for them, all sorts of activities they can get into. All in all, definitely a more aggressive approach than what our childhood witnessed.
Irrespective of the type of parent you see yourself becoming, it is something that keep nagging at you: what activities should my child do, at what age should they be done, and where can you, the parent, help? Let us help. In brief: when children are growing up, teaching them new things will be simply awesome for them. Parent beware though: rote learning is something that can be done at any age, but this time of their lives is a magical period. Think about it; if someone hears a fairytale at say, your age, will it have the same impact as it did when you heard it in your childhood? Will space create the same mystery, and sea, the same wonder, in middle age as it did in childhood?
There is no point putting up questions if we do not have the answers to them. Here we go.
Read out loud
The world has actually expanded far beyond Aesop and Panchatantra and Arabian Nights, and so should your library. What to pick up? Category-wise:
Nature
In a world where we are getting further and further away from nature, a glimpse of what the world was could leave an impression on your child, one that could make them cherish life, and maybe, even motivate them to save our blue-and-green world! How about introducing you child to the Earth ? The visuals can make for a picture book too!
Fantasy
Just because your ideal fantasy is Game of Thrones, doesn't mean that your kids should have the same taste; just like Sansa, they deserve to know a world where chivalry, honor and honesty exist. There are the usual suspects: Winnie the Pooh and Cinderella Apart from that? How about someone called Harry Potter.
Space
Infinity! How on earth do you make space appealing? Again, literature to the rescue! The Little Prince is about a space traveler who roams around the universe before coming to the universe and then visits the earth. There are some subtle meanings hidden, but this one is sure to fire up your little someone's imagination!
Sea
The ocean is that part of our world which is still a mystery to most of us. Imagine what it would seem like to a child. The whales, the coral reefs, the massive ice sheets, and the innumerable variety of creatures living beneath those blue, blue waters. Your child would thank you for an introduction to the sea .
Diverse Voices
One of the best things about living in our times is that people demand representation of their communities in movies and stories and comics, and speak up against stereotypical versions of the same. Why don't you do the same? Seeing characters lead normal lives (or becoming the heroine / hero) who do not have the Fair-&-Lovely-skin color can be a subtle message that everyone is equal. And while we are here, how about including LGBT characters? One criticism I have heard is that it is too early for kids to know about sexuality, but doesn't every other story we have end up depicting a man with a woman? Knowledge can only enlighten, not make her/him into a fanatic homosexual.
