Feed your baby books, it's good for his health

“Reading sparks curiosity and helps develop imagination, open-mindedness, and critical thinking. For example, a child who reads (or has read to them) a story set in a faraway country will have no trouble imagining what life is like there...” explains the father-reader.

Some good habits to adopt:

• Keep books within the children’s sight.
• Teach children to handle books with respect—not to walk on them or tear them...
• Reading during dinner (or at any other time that might seem unsuitable, such as bath time) is still an excellent way to introduce them to this new activity in a fun way. Nothing beats a book about vegetables to help get your baby to eat their dinner :-)
• Take them to the library: it’s a great way to discover new titles, authors, and surprising book formats... Besides, if we tried to buy every children’s book ever written, we’d lose an arm and a leg!

Against all odds, Gabriel tells us: "The watchword for choosing a good book for your child is to first treat yourself." Here are a few of his favorites:

• Au dodo les animaux by Frédérique Loew: a touch-and-feel cloth book, perfect for little hands. The illustrations are in black and white, very effective because contrasts are often perceived better than colors by babies.
• The "Mes petits imagiers sonores" collection is very popular, because children find it very easy and very quick to press the buttons.
• Les histoires d'Emilie (the little girl in red by Domitille de Pressensé) will be very appreciated, thanks, once again, to strong contrasts and simple drawings. 
• Les animaux du monde by Sejung Kim is a book made of organic cloth in partnership with UNICEF: perfect for babies who put everything in their mouths!

Because we certainly don't want to put him off reading! ;-)

Babies like to flip through books very quickly and learn how to turn pages very early on. Adapt to their pace, their mood at the moment...

Do not force the child if they do not want to.

Do not choose a text that is too long; the text is not essential. From age 2, picture books are very useful; children love spending a lot of time looking at pages where only characters, objects, or shapes "wander around" without necessarily having a background.

We wanted to share with you the advice of another spokesperson for the benefits of books on our little ones' development. The wonderful children's book author Jeanne Ashbé filmed by the Cinémathèque Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles during her visit to the Ti Mounn nursery.

For those in a hurry (or those who cannot turn on the sound), here are the great ideas to remember:

• What often confuses parents is that the child does not stay seated "quietly" to listen to the story. Yet movement is important in their approach to reading, because they first read with their ears. It is the music of the language that attracts them. Just like with language learning, children acquire reading by listening to adults read.
• By encountering the same little reading sequences again and again, the psyche and mind of the very young are structured. You must follow the child in their reading and not persevere in the text like a dogma, they are the one who sets the pace! 
• Baby time is about slowness. Reading a book to a baby might mean reading only one page or the same page for weeks.
• Even if we do not understand what the child perceives of the world, they make their own path and give it their own meaning with an exploratory energy for which books can be their companions.

Go! Libraries, media libraries, or bookstores; black and white or colors; shapes or characters; have fun and play with the different sounds of your voice to read beautiful stories to your babies!