Here’s Why You Should Develop A Reading Habit
(By Guest Writer Paloma Srivastava)
While many consider reading boring and a habit for elderly people, befriending books helped me spend my time during quarantine productively.
Makes You Smarter
Reading is a good way to while away free time. It is also a productive way to develop vocabulary, learning, writing skills and analytical skills.Reading not only makes a person smarter but engages a person productively during their free time.
As the pandemic locked us all indoors, sometimes, just doing stuff ‘online’ was not satisfying. I picked up books to deal with this sense of passivity. And I discovered that spending time with a book is a lot more fulfilling than watching a web series or surfing the Internet! Beyond great stories books let my mind travel to different places and situations.
I was quite overloaded with lots of chores, activities and my parents trying to teach me something new every day was way more irritating than attending school [as we used to say]. Picking up a book gave me a chance to let go of this stress easily.
Reading time for family!
Reading is also good family pass time.You can read together, ask questions about the topic, choose words from the text and play word games that actually throw up surprises! Reading together can work as a relaxing activity for the entire family, especially during these times of a global pandemic. As families, most of us are limited to staying indoors. When we read together, or tell a story, we communicate and thereby ease away our tensions.
Reading is not limited to children or youngsters like parents, it’s for all of the family members, just choose a book everyone would jump in for and start reading.
Reading is a choice
Reading is something people choose to do. More often than not, we are told to read by the family but for a good reason.At some age every person falls in love with reading. Be it a child or an 80 plus grand parent, there’s no age limit to reading. Anyone can find a topic and concept of their preference in the vast universe of books and literature.
I myself used to abhor reading till the age of 6, my parents and my sister[ who loves to read] started pushing me towards books from the age of 7 though I used to always back out. My first book was from the Geronimo Stilton’s series, The Halloween Party. It was a children’s book but was easy to read, lots of pictures and important word highlighted in a fun way. The light content and visual imagery got me hooked on to reading.
When I was 9 I was gifted Sudha Murty’s book, covered in chocolates. I focused on her stories which cover a range of topics and bring back the charm of older stories from Indian folklore. This book also gave me scope to connect with my grandparents and elders, for these stories are universally told. Now reading is my comfort habit. And I would advise everyone to give it a try.