One of the most powerful gifts we can give a child is the strength of feeling competent.  Children that believe they can and know that the important people in their life believe in them can be unstoppable!  The first step to creating great readers is encouraging them that they can. 

Up until this point, we have sheltered and protected them and gotten excited about everything they did.  When they uttered their first word, we praised them.  When they were learning to walk, we held their hands or stood behind them to catch them.  Reading is a little different. Children have to take risks.  They have to make mistakes.  That is a new feeling for most children.  Learning to read can be a crucial time for a child to feel successful in school.

We can help build their confidence by treating them as competent and celebrating their baby steps together.  We can expose them to environments that value reading.  Seeing a role model reading or reading with a child can also communicate that reading is important.  Those precious children are always watching and feel it so strongly when they are believed in.