Prettiness: An Influential Factor Towards Making Good Choices
Making things look pretty is a criterion not just for children. Even adults stress heavily the form, factor and colouration of every item they want in possession. Be it clothing, car or cutlery or even a life partner – good looks become the primary determinant. You don’t want something or someone going south on aesthetics. Still, adults can look deeper and find a meaningful context beyond superficial levels; with children, such understanding doesn’t even exist! Children’s reaction towards something that doesn’t appear appealing readily faces outright rejection.
This is even more for very young children, particularly toddlers. Five to eight years is the time when personality starts taking form, and that’s why MBTI tests are run from eight years onwards. But that’s an entirely different story to discuss some other time.
Coming back to the toddlers, it’s an age when audio/visual stimuli bear maximum effect. So, when pictures tell the story with context to the words, children follow along visually, even if they are not capable of reading. As they grow, those illustrations continue to play a key part in developing their imagination. The right kind of stimulus during this period shapes a child’s subconscious which he or she will carry for the rest of her life; it’s what directs a child’s initial psychosexual development, forming the base of the later part.
Illustrations: The Primary Way Children Connect With a Story
Kids are visual learners. That’s their basic trait. It is difficult for them to create imagery through words only. Illustrations bring narratives to life. It makes a child grasp plots better, making understanding of the plot, emotions and the associated characters easier. The visual cues simplify exploring complex ideas; decipher emotional experiences and learn about different cultures.
Good illustrations help a child’s attention from going astray. The combination of bright colours and quirky characters create dynamic scenes, which makes reading more of an engaging experience than an ordeal. That aside, it sparks curiosity and imagination in the best possible way. It makes them ask questions about what they see. It fosters creativity in them and triggers conversations, which proves illustrations are not mere accessories to children’s literature. They’re an integral part of learning and emotional development through enjoyment. Unless illustrations are good, the bridge between the real world and that of imagination doesn’t form well.
Read high-quality illustrated books with your children to promote early linguistic growth (Reese and Cox, 1999; Fitzgerald et al., 2018) and develop preliteracy skills (Foorman et al., 2002; Brown, 2014) in them. Additionally, you’ll assist their socio-emotional side to develo along with the communication skills (Bergin, 2001; Aram and Shapira, 2012). The bond you;ll develop that way (Blumberg and Griffin, 2013) is added perks.
Dialogic reading intervention actively prompt children to raise story-related questions, which improve their language comprehension, vocabulary, and print awareness [Fitzgerald et al., 2018]. When children participate actively into reading illustrous books facilitated by verbal interactions with adults, it makes shared reading helpful in developing a bond that’s unique and long-lasting [Whitehurst et al., 1988; Zevenbergen and Whitehurst, 2003].
With shared reading, you’ll help your child with emotional and social development turning them more empathetic, as found by Aram and Shapira (2012). For, it teaches children valuable socio-emotional lessons (Thompson et al., 2004; Tsai et al., 2007). The type of book you’re reading with your child also matters. Different book types provoke different levels of interactivity (Haden et al., 1996; Nyhout and O’Neill, 2013; Muhinyi et al., 2020) and distinct book types are more engaging, thereby provoking more dialogue (Muhinyi et al., 2020) through the various elements of a story. Those deemed as more complex or abstract have been found to facilitate more conversations (Price et al., 2009; Muhinyi et al., 2020), so select carefully to avoid negative impact upon a child’s emotions.
