(ARA) – A child’s natural “learning window” is between the ages of birth and 4 to 5 years, research has shown. But the typical American school doesn’t start teaching children to read until kindergarten. For parents, it may seem challenging to compete with television and video games, but helping your child learn to read is not only rewarding, but can prepare them for educational success.

Reading can be easier for kids to pick up and a more enjoyable activity when parents start early, as early as the day they’re born, says Dr. Robert Titzer. Research proves that early readers tend to enjoy reading more, do better in school and are less likely to drop out than those children with poor reading skills. However, myths surrounding early reading persist and include:

Myth: I don’t need to focus on reading at home. All children will learn how to read by the end of kindergarten.

Studies show that if a child is not reading at grade level by the end of the first grade, chances are very slim that he will ever catch up to grade level. Forty percent of 8-year-olds cannot read independently, which indicates the reading skills acquired in kindergarten are not enough.

Myth: It’s harmful to my child to learn how to read early because they’ll be ahead of the rest of their class.

Children who enter school already equipped with reading skills have higher self-esteem than children who do not, according to research.

Myth: A focus on learning to read is pushing a child too hard. Just let kids be kids.

Reading is a great way to spark imagination and early readers often have a lifelong love of books. The key is for parents to make reading fun, never a chore.

Titzer, a renowned infant learning and development expert, developed the Your Baby Can Read early language development system to change how and when children learn to read. Generally designed for children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years, the system uses tools like games, word cards, educational DVDs and music to help parents teach children how to read and to make it a fun activity for everyone.

Titzer offers the following tips to help parents encourage their young children to read:

* Start reading with your child from the day they’re born. A baby’s brain thrives on stimulation and, while it may not seem like they’re paying attention, they’re absorbing everything going on around them.

* Make reading fun. Use different character voices, act out a story, set aside a special story time with all family members and encourage children to participate in everything from turning pages to pointing out words.

* Use multimedia learning to appeal to different personality types and learning styles.

* Have a variety of books on hand and a comfortable place to read each day.

* Visit the library and encourage children to choose books they’re interested in.

For more information on the Your Baby Can Read system and additional tips to help your child learn to read, visit YourBabyCanRead.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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The Key to Potty Training Success

(ARA) – When it comes time for your child to start preschool, most parents can’t control their enthusiasm, but what do you do if the school turns you away because your son or daughter is not potty trained?

“You find a way to get them trained, of course,” says “Potty Pro” Teri Crane of Avon Lake, Ohio, and she should know. She started trying to train her son, Spencer, when he was two-and-a-half and met such stiff resistance she gave up and put him back in diapers. “Nothing was working. In fact, he actually had become hostile towards the potty seat. We would ask if he had to go. He would shout, ‘No I don’t have to. I don’t want to,’” she says.

Spencer’s breakthrough finally came just before his third birthday. “I wanted to enroll him in preschool, but couldn’t find a program that would accept him until he was potty trained. So I decided it was time to try again,” says Crane.

Knowing that Spencer loves parties, she decided to throw one that would convince him using the potty is fun. Crane planned a Potty Party for Spencer in which he received the gift of a doll he would help train. “All morning, in between reading books and playing games, I taught Dolly how a big boy goes to the potty by himself and Spencer watched closely,” says Crane. “By lunchtime, he had grasped the most important aspects of potty training and was teaching Dolly himself.”

After lunch, for added incentive, she told Spencer that if he showed her that he could use the potty just like Dolly had he’d get to go to his favorite place, Chuck E. Cheese. “It worked like a charm,” says Crane.

Crane’s Potty Party technique was so successful, she decided to write a book on the subject. “Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day” is now in its 9th printing. The book outlines how to throw a successful, themed Potty Party and teaches parents the keys to potty training success, including how to:

* Recognize the signs that the child is ready to be potty trained.

These include dancing, jumping up and down and grabbing their private parts when they have to go; pulling or tugging on their diaper after they have urinated or defecated in it; and being able to stay clean and dry for 3 to 5 hours at a time.

* Create incentive through consistent positive reinforcement.

Toddlers love to play and imagine, so Crane says parents should turn the process into a game. If you can make learning how to use the potty fun and magical, you are less likely to get resistance, she says. The Potty Party is a perfect way to create an imaginative and creative setting for potty training.

* Make the process easy and comfortable for the child.

Most toddlers are too small to safely use an adult toilet, and will be afraid to even try, so Crane recommends parents provide them with a training potty. When deciding which one to buy, she recommends parents put safety first by making sure the potty can’t be rocked or tipped when the child sits on it; the child can’t fall off backwards or sideways; there aren’t sharp or pointed pieces that can scrape or otherwise injure the child; and there aren’t parts that can fall off and be swallowed.

Crane recommends the Boon Potty Bench. It sits just seven inches high, the perfect height for a toddler’s comfort level, and features two enclosed side storage spaces for organizing potty training supplies. “The feature I like best is ease of clean-up,” says Crane. “The toilet ‘bowl’ is a small drawer that slides out quickly and easily, then once you dump it out and clean it, you just slide it back into place.”

Boon spokesperson Kate Benjamin points out another quality that parents appreciate — multi-function. “The Potty Bench really helps save space in the bathroom since it easily converts to a sturdy bench or step stool while the side storage compartments are an added bonus for keeping the bathroom organized.”

The Boon Potty Bench is available at Babies ‘R Us, Toys ‘R Us and other retailers nationwide. To find the store nearest you, log on to www.booninc.com. If you have questions about potty training, you can contact Teri Crane at www.thepottypro.com.

Courtesy of ARA Content

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Research, research, research. Parents who want to do the best for themselves and their child (and that includes nearly everyone) will want to do lots of homework long before the child does any.

Finding out about quality preschools – which are good, which are to be avoided – is, of course, basic. Recommendations remain one of the best sources, and are usually easy to obtain since most preschools are relatively close to home or work and often used by others in the area.

Montessori (when they practice genuine Montessori methods) remain one of the best organizations around. But there are some, unfortunately, where the resemblance ends with hanging up the sign. Be sure to meet the teachers personally and ask probing questions that include hypothetical scenarios.

The ‘big day’ can be softened by making an effort for it not to be the first day the child has been away. Many children, along with the parents, will experience separation anxiety when being parted from a parent and placed in an unfamiliar environment. Others see it as an adventure. Children, like adults, are individuals with a wide range of responses.

Make the transition easier by making it gradual.

Spend some time away from the child while a trusted individual cares for him or her. Expand the time from a few minutes to an hour, to a few hours. Work up to it slowly. During the parents absence, have the caretaker practice some elementary ‘lessons’ with the child.

Then, move the action outside the home – to the neighbor’s house, or elsewhere unfamiliar. The first few times the new environment should include the parent, then with parent and caretaker (varying the time spent with both), then caretaker alone.

Set aside some time during the day to give the child formal ‘lessons’ that are a mixture of exploration and verbal or visual learning. The length of time will vary, of course, depending on the age and personality of the child, but should be extended gradually from a few minutes per day to an hour or more.

Most children are naturally curious, but one will express it differently from another. Assist that natural curiosity by relating the new material to the child’s individual context. This can spring from a shared sight viewed from the living room window or a movie or any of dozens of other experiences. Emphasis on exploring phenomena the child can see, touch and manipulate personally will go a long way toward feeding that young mind.

When possible, trade off the individual caretaker, switching genders if possible. Gradually exposing your child to new people in a familiar environment where they feel secure will help that first day seem like nothing new.

Of course, how to get the parent to overcome his or her ‘first day jitters’ is a completely separate topic…

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According to Reach Out and Read, a national non-profit that promotes early literacy, exposure to books and reading in the first years of life increases the probability of healthy child development and decreases the chance of school failure. Realizing they could serve parents and children seeking a good start on the road to learning, the same people who brought us Highlights for Children decided it was time to create a magazine just for preschoolers and their parents.

Highlights High Five, which is based on sound educational principles and widely accepted child-development theories, addresses not only literacy skills, but also social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development. The magazine is filled with read-aloud stories, activities, and bright illustrations.

“Highlights High Five is designed to be used in any early-childhood setting, but especially in the home with parents, a child’s first and most important teachers,” says editor Christine French Clark.

Each issue of the magazine will contain stories and poems designed to develop pre-reading skills; puzzles and games, like “My First Hidden Pictures,” that help develop cognitive skills; ideas for fun, physical activities; a Spanish lesson; and a special tear-out section that contains an activity parents can do with their children. The tear-out in the premiere issue features 12 finger-puppet characters parents can cut out and tape together, then use to accompany a story called “Animal Talk,” in which little ones learn the sounds animals make.

“These early years when learning and fun go hand in hand are so important. We hope that our monthly mix of read-aloud stories and poems and age-appropriate puzzles and activities will help adults set young children gently but firmly on the path toward becoming lifelong learners,” adds Clark.

The first issue of Highlights High Five started showing up on newsstands and in subscribers’ mailboxes in early December. If you’d like to view a sample of the material you’ll find in Highlights High Five, log on to www.Highlights.com. You can subscribe for a one-year subscription, which costs just $2.47 per issue, on the Web site or by calling (800) 472-7038.

Courtesy of ARA Content

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