A very familiar piece of conversation is taking place in today's homes, where you have kids ranging from ages five upwards. If its not "Need for Speed" adorning the computer screen it's either Harry Potter or Ninja turtles on the TV Screen; Or your kid is immersed neck deep in that comic book with a dozen slang terms, half of which you don't even comprehend!! Gone are the days when books were the
only available past time and the sole source of joy for kids. The only reading kids are exposed to today is perhaps in their English textbook or in their abridged non-detailed book. With the arrival of the T.V and the Internet, parents often complain that it is next to impossible to keep their children away from the screen let alone get them to read. All said and done parents need to realize that abandoning the world of riches and dreams, which books open to us, is surely not the order of the day. You may ask, why give so much importance to books? Reading is one of the best pastimes that pay back high returns. Exposing a child to books at an early age brings in a lot more good than just fanciful reading. It helps the child develop his language, his reading skills and more than anything it cultivates the power to imagine the unthinkable and put them down in words. Richard Steele an essayist of the 18th century remarked,' Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body'.
