Fathers, I stumbled across this great resource earlier this morning as I was doing my own research for a workshop I’m presenting at next week. The topic of my upcoming workshop is Becoming an Educational Advocate for your child, and it’s for a group of young teen fathers in my community. In an effort to make the conversation practical though, I wanted to really give dads concrete strategies to impact their child’s education starting immediately. This video I think really hits the nail on the head. One of the most important things a parent can do before the age of 5 is read to their child and develop their child’s literacy skills.

Here are the strategies outlined in the video based on the acronym READ:

R- repeat at least 3-5 times- the more often your child hears the story, the more familiar they’ll become and the better they’ll be able to pick up on words and follow along

E- Engage and have fun- use different voices, really get into the book. It helps your child understand what’s happening in the story and it makes the process of reading enjoyable and builds a love for reading

A- ask WHY questions- make your child think? Even if your kid can’t talk yet- they can listen, and the more they hear, the more they can learn.

D- Do more- if the book is about airplanes, visit the airport and remind them of what you’ve read. Do something to connect what you’ve read to real life so that what they’ve read sticks.

Remember, don’t just read to your children, read with your children