From the moment a child becomes aware of things around him, we as parents instinctively want to teach. We surround them with color, point to objects and say their names and generally delight in their growing intelligence.

After color comes numbers and then comes their alphabet. Helping them to learn is such a precious part of our relationship with them and so enjoyable too.

Personalized books come into their own when it comes to teaching in the early years. These are books where the child is the main character. They are the beautiful princess in an exciting fairy tale. They are a fierce-some pirate in a swashbuckling adventure. They are the center of attention.

Because they see their name in print, and depending on the book, perhaps even their siblings and parents names too, children become very engaged with what they are reading. It is the kind of thing that they will be wanting to read again and again.

Most of these children’s books are hard backed so will last a lifetime. Many of these personalized books become heirlooms and are passed on from them to their own children. What an amazing gift to give!

Education-wise these personalized gifts are useful from a young age. Children from very young can be sat on laps and read to. It helps them to learn concentration and to listen (and to sit still!). As they hear a story read and hear their name in it, their attention is immediately taken and questions can be asked after each page on what had happened. Questions can also be asked about what is going on in the pictures. This really helps the child to articulate what they have understood.

Then they can be taught to pick out their name as the story is read. Because the story is about them, they will WANT to find their name. It won’t seem like a chore, or ‘school’ but rather will be a fun exercise.

Another idea for using these personalized books to educate, is to get the child to narrate the story back to you. This really gets the child thinking and organizing their thoughts and teaches them to articulate their thoughts clearly.

The books are mostly simple to read and thus can also be used as early readers. Again, because children can identify with the character in the book, it gives them an incentive to learn to read. These books make wonderful gifts for homeschoolers. All homeschooling mom’s love anything that grabs their child’s attention and encourages them to read. And all homeschooling mom’s love books!

Lastly personalized books can be used for copy writing. All children need to learn how to write and need plenty of practice. Most will try to do as little as possible. Having a book written about them, seeing their names in print and the names of their family too is a great incentive to write. The pictures of the story can also be used as story prompts making another exciting story experience.

Assume that your child went to regular school and every day the teacher asks you to help him a bit with his homework for quick progress. For you it will not make much effort because you went to school too in your childhood. So if your talented child has started taking music lessons, isn’t there a need for music education for parents too?

I’ve been teaching at music school for many years, and I am always apprehensive of parents who bring their children to music school but have no intention to understand anything about music education themselves.

When parents want to do something to help their children in their development, they begin taking music education for parents immediately and try to learn as much detail as they can about the new study. In the first few months they do it quite easily, because as adults their memory and logic helps them a great deal, but the further assimilation of information becomes harder and harder.

Firstly, it is because the adults often have urgent matters to look into, or things to discuss with their spouse. Perhaps they are very tired at work and think that today is not the most appropriate day to monitor their child’s home studies. Or they think that the child should now become independent.

Secondly, you think that since you have participated only in the theory lessons, how can you help your child when he practices? After all, it is your child who is performing with the instrument, not you. As an adult, you know from life experience that for a good result, the theory and practice must necessarily go hand in hand.

But music education for parents is simply just necessary. Why? The answer to this question is easy: if you want to help your child become a useful member of society, you should simply be familiar with and understand what he’s doing when he’s growing up.

How can you help your child learn and further develop musical ability if you do not have the necessary knowledge in this field?

You may not believe me, but in order to help your child get good knowledge you do not need to thoroughly study the biographies of composers and spend a few hours practicing the musical instrument like your little musician needs to.

So what is music education for parents? What does this mean? It means that you should know and be able to organize the process of music education of your child, create the conditions required to arouse and sustain his interest in the lessons, and help him go higher and higher.

Many parents are surprised and shrug: so what else can I do? Now I will reveal to you only the very basic few truths that you, dear parents, should know well:

1) Right from the birth of your child, you are responsible for the development of his musical abilities, since they are not inherited.

2) You should know the basic criteria on which to search for the first and most important music teacher in the life of your child.

3) If prior to starting his music education your child cannot decide on which musical instrument to learn, you need to know exactly how to help him make this most important choice.

4) Even before finding a music teacher, you should know exactly what you personally want out of the music lessons.

What future would you like for your child? Don’t you want him to increase his IQ by means of music lessons? Do you want your child to achieve his highest potential or do you just want him to play for “leisure”? In the latter case, you will be only deluding yourself. My experience with parents suggests that this desire of parents is satisfied too quickly, and the child does not realize the true value of his invested efforts in learning music; and sooner or later he leaves musical training.

Reading is an essential skill in life, necessary for education, work and recreation. Being a reader opens up a whole world of fact and fantasy which will benefit children for the rest of their lives. All parents want their children to learn to read but many don’t know what to do to get reading help for children or how to help them themselves.

Start early with your children reading them stories and chanting nursery rhymes. They may not actually know what you’re saying but it will subconsciously get them used to the idea of reading. They will also connect reading with the sound of your voice, which they will associate with comfort and care, leading them to love reading. Cloth books with simple words and pictures are great for babies

When they get a little older, read from large print story books, pointing to the words as you read. Choose books with pictures that the children can associate with the words that you’re reading. Along with the actual reading, you can teach your children the alphabet using specialist alphabet books, alphabet magnets and simple writing materials. Stick the magnets on your fridge and let the children play with them as you’re preparing meals. Take the time to ask them what the letters are as they pick them up and get them to spell their names as a starting point.

Reading help for children can also be obtained from videos, DVDs and television programs. Check out the children’s TV channels for educational viewing but don’t just leave your children to it; sit with them and join in the activities. It may be a bit mind numbing for you but it will benefit your children greatly.

If you need reading help for children who are already at school, but aren’t learning to read at the rate expected of their age group, ask the school for help. They may have a reading specialist who will provide one to one tuition or if not, they will be able to advise you how to contact one.