Mem Fox Quotes

Reading aloud and talking about what we're reading sharpens children's brains. It helps develop their ability to concentrate at length, to solve problems logically, and to express themselves more easily and clearly.

Children who are read to learn two things: First, that reading is worthwhile, and second, that they are worthwhile.

No skill shapes a child's future success in school or in life more than the ability to read.

Well, I can't remember not being able to read. I was told I could read by myself very well at the age of three.

Childhood reading is so important.

The manner in which I learned to read and write, not only had great influence on my own mind, as I acquired it with the most perfect ease, so much so, that I have no recollection whatever of learning the alphabet

For the very young, there's nothing better than Mother Goose and anything by Dr. Seuss for the rhythms and language.

What will a child learn sooner than a song?

Reading might not be the way that the child engages with the world, but it should be something that they all learn how to do, and that they get to have for themselves, as opposed to somebody telling them what to do and how to do it.

Just a little every day That's the way Children learn to read and write Bit by bit and mite by mite.

It's a huge advantage to have parents who read to you. And it's an advantage that lasts a lifetime.

I taught myself to read when I was three by comparing the letters in my Mother Goose book with the rhymes I had memorised.

Obviously, every child should be given the best possible opportunity to acquire literacy skills.

I am very much interested in getting parents to read to children, and trying to get people mentoring children. If I can do both I'll be happy.

A child needs to be listened to and talked to at 3 and 4 and 5 years of age. Parents should not wait for the sophisticated conversation of a teenager.

Having a larger vocabulary the day you walk into kindergarten is advantageous.

I cannot remember not being able to read.

We know that reading to children is a crucial step. From the beginning, babies who are read to are exposed to the cadence of language, and school-age children who read at home for 15 minutes a day are exposed to millions of words.

Writing, for me, really started in the '70s as a young child. I used to read a lot of nursery rhymes, and I learned a lot of those rhymes word for word.

I do think, where would kids be if it weren't for you and for the good pediatricians, and for the good parents? I passionately believe in sitting a child on your lap and tracing the lines of the book with your finger, and they can read before they know they can, if you bother enough. I did it with my kids, and they're doing it with their kids now.

The child begins to perceive the world not only through his [or her] eyes but also through his [or her] speech

At about a year and a half, the child discovers another fact, and that is that each thing has its own name.

I want to get back to education. When I was in college I paid attention to child psychology portions of our psychology classes. I watch other people work with babies. And I saw the baby as developing like a computer and it intrigued me in my life. I wanted to do that.

For example, parents who talk a lot to their children have kids with better language skills, parents who spank have children who grow up to be violent, parents who are neither too authoritarian or too lenient have children who are well-adjusted, and so on.

The elements of instruction should be presented to the mind in childhood, but not with any compulsion.