The benefits of reading to your children from a very early age are now well known, but sometimes parents lack confidence in their ability to read aloud.  My husband was very shy to start with, as he doesn't enjoy public speaking.  However he soon realised that our daughter loved

listening to him and he relaxed and started to enjoy himself rather than worrying about how he sounded.  At the same time, his reading improved!

Here are some of the things I love about reading to my baby.

- Board books. Wow, such a big change since I was a kid. Now you can safely leave books at floor level without the risk of them being torn to shreds because your child loves the sound of ripping paper. (I use junk mail for that activity!)

- Books with flaps, textures and mirrors. Even more wow! My daughter cannot get enough of looking under flaps, putting her fingers through holes, touching squishy/fluffy/scratchy things and (best of all) looking at her own reflection.

- Making up new words. Some books just have too many words per page, especially for a baby who likes turning the pages quickly. It's good to have your own "short version", especially if you've read that particular book three times today.

- Finding things in the pictures. Some days the illustrations are more fun than the story line. I point out the mouse, the boat, the sun, the flower, etc in the background. Then I ask my daughter to find those items for me.

- Silly noises. Reading to a child gives you complete freedom to make as many silly animal noises and other sound effects as you like. So I mooo, pop, bang, miaow, grrrr, brrroom, woof, oink, squeak and boo to my heart's content. Go on... you know you want to!

- Opportunities for karaoke. Are we on a page with a star? I launch into Twinke Twinkle. Is that a picture of a frog? I start singing "Galumph went the little green frog". Your baby will love it. Well, mine does anyway! :-) If you're in Western Australia and you received a copy of Baby Ways from your local library or child health nurse, you can sing the entire book to the tune of Here we go Round the Mulberry Bush, which improves it no end.

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This advice was originally published on my blog at http://www.preminperth.net/ and by me on the Little Aussie Prems blog http://www.lilaussieprems.com.au/blogs/