LUBBOCK, Texas — Reading is important, no matter the age.
Literacy Lubbock believes finding a love for reading should start with our youngest generation.
That’s where the Tiny Tots reading program comes in – a free program geared toward kids 4 and younger.
Every Wednesday at 12:30 at a Lubbock library and the Wolfforth library you’ll find a volunteer reading to kids.
“It’s about making reading so exciting and fun and teaching parents and giving them the tools on how to read and emphasize certain things and follow along with the words and tell a story and come to the library and see it as a good thing,” explains Literacy Lubbock volunteer Jeremy Cares.
Cares has been a volunteer for the Tiny Tots program for 7 years and says every time it gets better and better.
And the kids are learning that reading is fun at such an impressionable age.
“Reading is so critical,” Cares explained. “There is such a bonding time when you sit down and read with your child. You are educating them, even if they can’t read themselves, they are learning the sounds. They start to learn the concept and sentence structure a little bit and it gets them ready for school. “
And best of all, every kid gets a free book to bring home, so parents can continue the fun of reading at home.
Just last year, Tiny Tots gave 8,000 free books to kids.
Cares says this program is making a big difference in these children’s lives.
“There was this mom who had her three month old son and brought him every week and that boy started humming a song we sing at 7 months old and that’s the influence that reading has to a child or singing to a child,” Cares said. “That’s what makes them excited and gets them happy about reading and going to the library.”
Tiny Tots is free and every kid who goes gets a free book to bring home.
You can find out more about the program and what library they’ll be at here.
