The Significance of Cultivating Childcare Workers Who Are Certified Picture Book Specialists

<p>The lack of interest in reading among children these days is a significant social issue. Book-reading activities are essential for children to learn words, refine their sensibilities, polish their expressive skills, enrich creativity, and develop the ability to live more deeply and meaningfully. Government measures have thus made it clear that society as a whole must actively promote the creation of an environment that encourages book-reading activities for children. Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel, founder of the kindergarten, believes that children should be given picture books when they begin to show delight at seeing a picture as a real thing and when they start to understand what the pictures symbolize. When children become capable in these ways, they will be able to remember their own experiences by looking at pictures and listening to a story. They will also be able to objectively accept their experiences and feel, think about, and more deeply understand them. Fröbel adds that a familiar adult acting as a reader is necessary to breathe life into a story through his or her own words and give warmth to it with his or her heart. By regularly receiving education that uses picture books as teaching materials, children will be able to feel the love of a familiar adult and understand more than the words being read by paying attention to the adult’s voice and facial expressions. It will also enable them to use their unique experiences as a foundation and guide in the future, for greater fulfillment in life. Considering these points, future childcare workers would likely benefit from becoming certified picture book specialists as part of childcare working training. The reasons are as follows: （1） In becoming certified picture book specialists, future childcare workers will gain extensive knowledge about such material and the sensibilities and skills needed to use them effectively, improve their expressive and communicative abilities as childcare workers, and, in addition, gain the ability to work as coordinators to promote community reading activities, as well as develop competency in such areas as child-rearing assistance in the future; （2） People who become certified picture book specialists will be able to promote book-reading activities for children; and （3） Education that uses picture books as teaching materials allows children to reflect on their experiences, feel the love of their carers, and grow by understanding more than the words being read by paying attention to their carers’ voices and facial expressions.</p>