Experience of book reading with babies at Mahmoudabad Cultural Center

Concurrent with the opening of the library of Mahmoudabad Cultural Center , the Institute for Research on the History of Children’s Literature held a free-of-charge workshop, titled “Reading with Babies and toddlers”, for 20 pregnant women and mothers with children under 4 years old residing in Mahmoudabad’s brick kilns. This workshop consists of six sessions which three of them have been held so far. Statistics-before holding the workshops-show that some of participating mothers are illiterate and the rest have primary to high school degrees.

In the past three sessions, mothers were acquainted with an infant’s needs of growing up in peace and harmony, brain structure and growth pivots, role of words and their influence ona baby, benefits of reading books for babies and toddlers, as well as eight important principles of book reading for infants, and they directly observed the impact of book reading for their children during the session. The mothers have also learned how to make paper and cloth books for their children using fabric, wool, and cardboard, geometrical shapes and different pictures.

Here are some comments made by mothers after participating in three sessions out of six:

• My patience towards my baby has been enhanced after attending this workshop. Now I talk to my child pleasurably, I read him poems and I have realized he has found serenity and gets restless quite less often.
• Currently I read books for my baby correctly and with more passion and I give her more love. My husband is amazed by the changes in my behavior towards our child and he is happy that I attend these workshops.
• By baby smiles when I read her lullaby and poems. Every day I experience fine moments with my child by reading and talking to her.
• I am illiterate, and I didn’t care up to now. But ever since I attended these workshops, I like to read to my child, therefore, I am planning to go to adults’ school.
• I have primary school education but I cannot read books so well, this class has made me to ask my older child and have him teach me how to read.

These sessions will begin again in three weeks. In the mean time, mothers are asked to make a book by cloth for their children, and share their experience about reading book to their babies with other mothers.

translated by Reza Rezazadeh

This post is also available in: Persian