I’ll come to the point. I was on my way to work this morning. I stepped into the train and stood directly in front of this mother and her young daughter, probably around the age of 4 or 5.

The mother had a book in her hand. She was reading aloud to her daughter. In my twenty years of taking the public transport- I had never seen a mother read so enthusiastically, with so much of effort to her child.

She was reading the ‘Mahabharata’ (A great Epic of Ancient India) to her daughter. It was in English. She was killing two birds with one stone. She was reading good vocabulary to her daughter, words like, tensed, faithful, confusion, kept mum about it, and so much more for a four year old to understand let alone remember. She was also exposing the roots of her culture through story-telling.

Her daughter’s attention span varied- from Khatib to City Hall. Sometimes, she was awed and other times she turned her head around everywhere except in the direction of her mother. Her interest in the story fluctuated almost every minute. But the mother still kept reading each line, with so much of determination and expression. She didn’t give up. Each time she realised she was losing her daughter’s interest- she raised her vocals. She would quickly, with the help of her gestures and facial expression, re-gain the attention of her child.

She threw questions at her daughter, “Do you know why Arjun and karana were fighting?” And her daughter would try her luck at her replying and even when most of her answers were wrong- her mother never emphasized it. The idea was not to get a right or wrong answer- It was to get the kid to respond. And most of the time- she did.

Because of her mother’s effort today, that young girl learnt almost 3-4 new words and the most fluent and pleasant-to-the-ears reading style.

There were two things that were immediately etched in my mind. Good habits are best formed during a young age. Suddenly.I could foresee that young girl’s future. I imagined her to be this articulate reader, who would read the newspapers every morning, to increase her general knowledge. I imagined her scoring good marks in her English language.

There are many ways to get your child to develop the good habit of reading. I called some of my friends who like most parents hope to get their young hooked on reading.

Zaheera Javed, 29 , said, “I have learnt to mould my daughter. I know what she wants and I pay close attentions to her dislikes. I get her to put in a lot of effort to read. For every three books, she reads fluently, I buy her a gift. It takes her a while to complete reading three books fluently, so I’m not too worried about spoiling her materialistically. She enjoys reading and becomes very confident upon completing a book.”

Serene Phang, 33 , added, “Initially I thought I would leave the school to teach my son. I had enrolled him in childcare because I was working full-time. But he loathed reading. Then I thought I should make an effort. After work, I would spend time with him and pick a book with lots of pictures and dramatize with him. We would pretend to be characters. Basically, we would do a lot of role-play. He enjoyed every moment and so would I. My son loves reading now, and more than that, he loves acting.”

Good habits such as reading start at home. Young children love to emulate. So, pick up a book or a newspaper and read intensely, even if you have to pretend. Your kid will not only follow suit, but also ask you questions. And did I forget to mention going to the library? Two year olds are making weekly trips to the library with their folks. The library is “the joint” now. Our local libraries are not just limited to books, but a wide range of multimedia where kids are exposed to new games and fun-filled activities.

There can be nothing more valuable than passing on a good reading habit to your child. Research has suggested that reading to your child before birth can provide your child a higher level of understanding and learning. Reading shouldn’t be underestimated. Reading is the method by which children learn just about everything. One story can open up a world of possibilities. One book can be the beginning of a lifelong desire to explore all books of different genres. So start reading to your child now!