Do you know that Babies love to listen to the

the human voice and that this is how they develop language, emotional regulation, social skills and more.

Can you think of a better way to engage them with your voice and serve their love for listening than through reading?

Oh, there's none. Reading and singing are such an h-u-g- e foundation skills for a child's developing brain.

A simple, easy and affordable skill, yet one untapped by many parents.

What you'll need:

Some books are written especially for babies (books made of cardboard or cloth with flaps to lift and holes to peek through).

What we do:

We start by singing lullabies and folklore in our last trimester and all through infancy. We also turn short stories into songs or we read them with the most soothing voice. When our babies are about six months old, we choose brightly coloured books with simple pictures and lots of rhythm in the text.

We read bedtime stories to them at night and sometimes Bible stories in the morning using varying tones of our voice with different characters.

With the baby in my lap seeing, holding and touching the book, I make funny faces, sing rhymes and turn texts into songs. I point at pictures and show them familiar pictures saying their names with a little emphasis on the beginning sound. Our goal is always to keep it short, simple, fun and consistent.

When our son Kamsy was little, he would giggle and bounce up and down on his 'bum' and shriek in laughter every time I changed my tone of voice.

My Mami would look right into my face, touch my cheeks and giggle while running her hands all over the pages of the book, perhaps to feel the texture one more time It was the same thing on the days that daddy could join in the fun.

And so they formed an association between books and the voices that they know and love the most- our voices... They built a love and closeness with the US and a deep attachment to books.

They hardly tore books even as babies ( not like the books were easy to tear 😄) Just yesterday, someone asked me who can join our Fun Activities Reading Challenge.

I said to her, "Every Parent of child 0-15) and she said, "even 3months old?" And I repeated "Everyone" We still have 2days before the challenge to join for just the N2000 commitment token.

See details to register your child 👇

Pay N2,000 to

Nkambi Chima

Zenith Bank Plc

2005399314

Or from our solar store

https://selar.co/xpvx

Marybeth Chima Author & Parent Coach

The MentorMum.