P486ORACLE 486 Mon 6 Jan C4 9713:41  1/5        by Margaret Carter  CHILD CARE... Children need stgries and rhymes as well as fogd and cuddles. Indeed the two needs are complimentary since although the first feeds the mind and the second the body, the two combined make a whole: an unhappy child does not thrive but the child made heir by adults to our heritage of stgries, recounted by a familiar voice - is unlikely to be ne£lected. For the child's fir1t book is ngt contained on a printed page or in brightly coloured pictures but in the sound of a loved voice, repeating the rhymes and music of verses which may well have survived hundreds of year1. Home File Index 480 Be1t buys 487

P486ORACLE 486 Mon 6 Jan C4 1704:02  2/5        by Margaret Carter  CHILD CARE... All parents and adults used to children know that the sound of a human voice can often quiet a fractious baby. That isn't something you need a book tg teach you: it comes naturally. And so also does the manner of speaking to a child - slowly, often using few wgrds, repeating the words, often in a higher tone that your normal voice. Even young children seem tg know this instinctively: if you listen to them talking to a baby or tgddler you'll notice that they too- without being tgld - use fewer wgrds, often repeathng phrases over and over again. more > Home File Index 480 Best buys 487

P486ORACLE 486 Mon 6 Jan C4 1716:27  3/5        by Margaret Carter  CHILD CARE.... Many parents feel self-cgnscious when they first begin to sing or recitj tg their babies. Some of us indeed need refresher courses in nursery rhymes since we may not have heard them since our own childhogd. A visit to your local library will set you on the right track and remember it's never too sogn to be£in tg "read" books with a young baby. Admittedly they are more inclined tg chewing rather than reading pages but the ritual of close comfort, being cuddled and having your sgle attentign is what matters. more fgllow1 > Home File Index 480 Best buys 487

P486ORACLE 486 Mon 6 Jan C4 1714:51  4/5        by Margaret Carter  CHILD CARE.... Begin with books that have few pages - preferably laminated or whth some gther wipe-clean surface. The best books fgr young babies have one or twg brightly coloured simple pictures to a page - possibly with the object's name written underneath. As you turn the pages, talk about what you see. Pictures that "make noi1e1" are wonderful: a picture of a cat fgr instance, undoubtedly says "miaos! and a cow cannot be anything other than "moo". You'll sogn lose your self- consciousness and be surprised at how sogn baby joins in. more fgllows > Home File Index 480 Be1t buys 487

P486ORACLE 486 Mon 6 Jan C4 1715:17  5/5        by Margaret Carter  CHILD CARE... Artists and authors to look out fgr are Eric Hill, Dick Bruna, Rod Campbell, Rodney Peppe - all of whom know exactly what is right for the youngest customer And if you doubt the value of books fgr young children read twg boo)s "Cushla and her Books" and "Babies Need Books", both by Dorothy Butler and published by Pelican. The first is an account of how the author introduced her severely brain damaged grandaughter to books and the difference it made to her development. The secgnd is cgncerned with books fgr children up to the age of four. mgre > Home File Index 408 Be1t Buys 487