Minister for Children and Young People Joy Burch has recently launched Let’s Read, a program that supports Canberra parents to read with their children starting from birth.
“This initiative, developed by Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital Centre for the Community Child Health, was founded on the basis that reading with children from birth is an important activity in developing a child’s future ability to read and write,” Ms Burch said. “I am delighted this successful program has come to Canberra, with the Tuggeranong Child and Family Centre, The Smith Family and Communities at Work working together to help families.”
Ms Burch explained that under Let’s Read’s share and show approach, staff at Tuggeranong Child and Family Centre and Communities at Work will visit homes as part of the existing Parents as Teachers program. They will read a book with the child, with parents initially observing and then repeating the process themselves. Ms Burch added that the families keep the books, with books given at age groups birth to four months, 12 months, 18 months and 3.5 years.