From left: Scotiabank marketing manager, Amanda Lynch-Foster, and Books for Babies founders Louise Frazer and Nina Lashley listen in as Mum Keisha Boyce reads one of the books to her son, Javier Brathwaite.
Scotiabank helps provide books for babies
Mon, 09/19/2016 - 12:00am
New-born Javier Brathwaite was heading home for the first time following his delivery at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) and he started life the right way – with the soothing voice of mum Keisha Boyce reading “Peekaboo Morning” to him.
The perfect going home gift came from the new charity Books for Babies, with support from Scotiabank, which provided a grant to the charity to purchase hundreds of baby-friendly books.
The charity, founded by speech and language therapists Louise Frazer, Nina Lashley and publisher Neysha Soodeen, is dedicated to providing at least one new, age-appropriate storybook for every baby in Barbados.
The aim is to encourage a love of reading and literacy from early in a child’s life. Frazer notes, “Children whose parents frequently read to them know more words by age two than children who have not been read to. Children who are read to during their early years are more likely to learn to read at the right time and become better readers. Not to mention that reading to your baby helps form a strong bond between parents and child.”