FEATURE - ABOUT PARENT-CHILD READING

TEXT / Kiki Bai

PHOTOS / John Leong、 Lily Lam

ILLUSTRATOR / Lao On On

Let's go on a library date with your children! Over the years, the public libraries of the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) have been promoting reading culture in different ways. Through various promotional activities such as lectures, exhibitions, workshops, courses, screenings, concerts, conferences and competitions, readers have been able to get familiar with the IC’s public libraries from multiple perspectives and build connection with reading.

In this issue, a mother is sharing with readers her child’s experience of participating in library activities and learning in various workshops on physical interaction, foreign language, theatre and emotional education organized by the libraries, having different experiences of reading. They have also fallen in love with reading and become friends with books, which will nurture their growth along the way. So, dear readers, are you ready for a variety of exciting reading activities? Let's go!

Touch is also a form of communication! Children, the library’s “I Love Little Dots” — a parent-child physical interaction workshop for young children - has taught us new ways of communication. It was great to see your curiosity when you got in touch with something new and to see your smile as you listened to the music, and I will accompany you on your journey of discovery for the rest of your life.

Workshop instructor Cita Kwong

Workshop instructors Cita Kwong (right) and Miracle Choi encourage parents to engage in more interactions with their children and let them learn about the world through the sense of touch.

The workshop instructor, Cita Kwong, said that among the five senses, touch enables babies to get in touch with the world at the earliest stage and that contact with close ones can stabilize children’s emotions and make them feel more secure. However, some parents tend to neglect physical interaction with their children, and lack the enthusiasm to explore new things with them. “During the process of dancing and crawling around, children can exercise to strengthen their body and limbs, as well as body coordination, which is conducive to their understanding of the world to a larger extent and to their establishment of connections with others and their surroundings.”

During the event, parents and children touched things around together to stimulate children’s instinctive curiosity and desire to explore, using picture books, body movements, and colorful tools. Cita Kwong believes that it has become a habit for parents to tell stories to their children, but they may not spend too much energy on playing games with their children, so she encourages parents to combine picture books with games to make the interaction more interesting by attracting their children’s attention through visual and tactile means. “For example, books like Press Here and Penguin Stretching Exercises that I introduced in the workshop are designed for young children, and interactive elements can also be added at your own initiative. Many picture books now come with videos and music, which in fact adds fun to parent-child interaction, enabling you to have a wonderful and happy time with your children.”

Children are instinctively curious about everything, and the sense of touch is an important medium for them to explore.

Let’s read English picture books together today, kids! Last time, our teacher said that young children’s brains are very active when they are between the ages of 0 and 6, so, at this stage, it is important to combine elements including foreign language and drama in telling picture book stories, to develop children’s foreign language and reading skills. As it happens to be the Mid-Autumn Festival, the library organized a parent-child reading promotion activity “Reading Promotes Growth”. The activity includes the reading of English picture books which are specifically chosen for the Mid-Autumn Festival, and parents and children can read and make lanterns together. Come on in! The event is about to start. Instructor Jose Ku is waiting for us.

Jose Ku, the instructor of the parent-child reading promotion activity “Reading Promotes Growth”, encourages parents and children to interact with each other in the form of “reading + drama”.

“When reading picture books with children, the key point is not about how the parents ‘tell’ the story, but about how they lead the children into the world of the book. Parents and children should ask and answer each other questions more frequently for the children to understand the plot of the book, and even to associate different scenarios, so that their children can put their thoughts and emotions into the story characters.” On the day of the workshop, the instructors started with a warm-up activity to help parents and children relax and get used to the pace of the workshop. Children were introduced to the exciting world of picture books through body movements, and finally, they completed a craft session together with their parents to make lanterns for the Mid-Autumn Festival. According to Ku, this is an important part of “reading + drama”, “Let children play a story as spontaneously and impromptu as possible. When you consider reading to be a relaxing and enjoyable thing, it’s easy to interact even in English”, he claimed.

As for how to choose the right book as a blueprint for drama, Ku says that “reading + drama” is not limited to children’s picture books, in fact, poetry, famous picture albums, modern literature and novels, and even philosophy books can all build a theatre world for children. “The most important thing is to bring out the message of the book, so that the reading mind is stimulated and the art sense is nurtured”, he said. He encourages parents to make more use of the libraries to find reading materials and to accompany their children to travel through the sea of books by their theatrical performances, thereby experiencing the infinite joy of knowledge.

In 2022, the “Reading Promotes Growth” parent-child reading promotion activity spent the Mid-Autumn Festival with parents and children through the interpretation of English picture books.

Come here, mommy will build a house with you together! “Building the Future” — a parent-child picture book interactive theatre workshop was so much fun, we managed to build a bridge during the activity and completed our task! I wonder if you will become an architect in the future. No matter what you will become, mommy will play, read and grow with you.

The workshop instructor, Bobo Leong, leads parents and children to build a “bridge” through Iggy Peck, Architect.

From the perspective of the workshop instructor Bobo Leong, parents are relatively passive when participating in workshops and often attends in the role of companion. In fact, parents should engage in it, therefore, we deliberately added some activities that require parent-child interaction. For example, parents and children need to “build a bridge” with their body to further enhance the parent-child relationship. “Children usually take the initiative to express their ideas, but they do not necessarily have a clear concept of the bridge. Therefore, parents need to integrate their opinions, and then work out how to bring the bridge to life, creating a shared experience between parents and children in the challenge. Not only the children will have fun during the activity, but also see a different side of their parents”, she claimed. In the process of conceptualizing the game, Bobo Leong also simplified the materials needed for the interaction, such as floor mats, papers and strings, so that parents and children can do the same at home.

During the event, parents and children travelled together on an amazing journey with the main character of the book Iggy Peck, Architect. Bobo Leong said with a smile, the book is not only beautifully designed, but also full of creative drawings, such as diaper towers, bread bridges and fruit churches, leading children and adults to the interesting and colorful world of picture books, and to start a fantasy adventure from reading books.

The instructors expect participants to create a different kind of parent-child time through interaction.

My child is growing up and making many new friends, but he doesn’t know how to express himself, and sometimes he looks depressed when he comes home. Even as a parent, I don’t understand his vexation. Fortunately, we attended the “Being a Child’s Emotion Coach — Q&A on Emotional Education” workshop at the library together, in which children could recognize and accept their different emotions and regain their smiling faces. Let’s listen to how the workshop instructor, Eric Cheuk, helped us to rebuild good family relationships through the activities in the workshop.

The instructor, Eric Cheuk, encouraged parents to be more patient in observing their children’s emotions.

According to Eric Cheuk, when dealing with the topic of “emotional education”, we should first examine emotions and problems separately: “Emotions are instinctive and sometimes not the source of problems. On the other hand, emotional and behavioral issues will occur when problems are not dealt with properly”. The ability to control emotions is partly a matter of innate personality, but parents can also provide help to their children and be their emotion coach through communication. “Parents should first be patient and actively guide their children to express the reasons behind their emotions regardless of what emotional problems they are having, observe changes in their children and learn to accept negative feelings in order to maintain a good parent-child relationship”, he said.

During the activity, parents and children found common interest in reading, the children's enthusiasm is also enhanced from “static learning” to “dynamic learning”. At the same time, they also learned how to adjust their emotions, and think carefully about the world while cultivating their desire to learn. People are not heartless. Emotion itself is also a profound knowledge that affects our cognition, behavioral and psychological growth, and “emotion education” has become a must for parents and children. Eric Cheuk pointed out that, the library provides an objective place for children to read appropriate picture books, opening the “door of wisdom” for them. Parents can master the wonderful ways to control emotions through books, deepen their learning, share interesting stories with each other in the library, or calm down and read, thereby building a good family relationship together.

Teaching children about emotions is an important part of the parent-child relationship.

IC’s public libraries brought to us a joyful time for parents and children to read together. We learned the skills of reading and communication between parents and children, and got to know the relevant library collections, so that we can recreate the parent-child reading experience at home. Since the children love reading, they will also go to the library with their classmates to read books after class, and immerse themselves in the sea of books in a quiet and elegant environment. Over the years, we have participated in many activities both inside and outside the libraries, building a connection with books, improving our reading literacy and integrating reading into our lives. As said by the famous American educator John Dewey, “reading is a kind of adventure, like exploring a new land, like exploring a new soil”. In this exploration of the ocean of knowledge, the libraries are like an ark, and together with parents, children, and every members of the public, we write a long volume of reading to find the endless joy of reading