Should my child keep reading and writing over the holidays?

How important is it for my child to keep up with his reading/writing over the long summer holidays? If he does not, will he fall seriously behind?

Amy Stewart replies: It is always great to encourage your child to read and write, whether it is during the school term time or during the holidays. But it is also good to be mindful that your child should take a break from full-time learning.

Your child will not fall “seriously” behind if they do not spend all summer in structured study, but reading and writing should be a daily activity to encourage your child and reinforce the idea of lifelong learning.

I would recommend that you get your child some interesting holiday reading about something that is of interest to them. Some trips to the library can also be a fun holiday activity. While you are there, check out the summer activities, storytelling or reading based activities offered by the library.

Writing can be incorporated as a fun and low pressure activity if you get your child interested in writing a holiday diary or comic strip to keep a record of what they did over the summer break. Other writing activities could include writing poetry or a song based on a family outing, or even a review of a movie that your child has watched.

For more ideas, search the internet for some family and child-based summer activities that incorporate reading and writing (and of course art, mathematics, science and so on). Don’t forget Daily7 and Daily10 have a great online competition on at the moment that offers many such activities.

Almost anything can become a fun learning experience for your child (and you), but be aware of your child’s need to recharge, relax and refresh over the summer break.