Due to the pandemic of Covid-19 around the world, many local government in Indonesia have decided to issue the “work and study from home” policy  in order to curb the spread of this virus. The local government in Ende regency, NTT is included.

The schools have been closed off for two weeks (March 20th – April 4th) and students are being encouraged to study from home. If there is nothing urgent to do, don’t leave the house. Stay away from the crowd, wash your hands more often and keep your distance from the others.

Staying at home for two weeks, it will indeed be boring. There are several activities that can be done at home with your family; such as trying new recipes, playing board games (snakes and ladders, ludo, monopoly), watching movies together, exercising at home, gardening, learning and playing together, exchanging ideas with children and spouses could become a valuable activity. During this time you can also spending time with the books.

You can read the books with your children. You can conduct read aloud for children who are not able to read yet. And for those who already able to read, you can accompany them during the reading time. This is very important to develop the reading habits among the children.

Taking time to read books and tell stories to children will be useful to create a new way of communication for the children. From the activity, children will learn to communicate and express ideas or opinions. Encouraging them to retell the stories which they have read will certainly improve their ability to communicate.

Reading books with children from an early age will also help children to enrich their vocabulary. Listening to their parents and recite the vocabulary will facilitate the children to understand the new words and meanings. Many books are available for children with different reading skill at the library or book store.

In the beginning of the reading activities, children can learn to recognize letters, syllable and vocabulary. And then, children will be able to learn the language structures. This will help children to express their opinions coherently. In addition, reading together can also build closeness between parents and children.

So, let’s take advantage of this quarantine time to get closer to our children and help them to nurture their love of reading.