Titled, “Crossword Puzzles – Fun for All,” written by an educationist, Mrs Elfrida Naa Ayikailey Adablah, seeks to instill in children the culture of brainstorming and finding solutions to daily challenges of life.

It is published in three categories, children in primary, junior and senior high schools with the focus of introducing them to a more innovative way of learning and using new vocabularies.

A former Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, Mr Charles Yaw Aheto-Tsegah, who co-launched the book on Monday, implored parents to encourage their children to develop reading habit.

“Though these are family management issues and our education institutions cannot invade people’s privacy at their homes, parents have the responsibility to apportion time for all activities in their homes. They should encourage their children to read,” he said.

Speaking to The Ghanaian Times at the sidelines of the launch, Mr Tsegah said it behooves parents to allot time for all activities including learning, watching television and resting.

He observed that some parents mostly leave their children to their fate without offering adequate supervision over their activities, saying “this makes the children misuse time.”

He was therefore; of the view that time was an essential commodity which parents should help their children manage properly before they grow into adulthood.

Mrs Adablah said her motivation to write the book stemmed from her love for words and an insatiable desire to build a strong vocabulary as an educator.

Making a reference to a quote by an international American author, Emanuel James Jim Rohn, she underscored the importance of word, explaining that “words were able to shape the lives of people and create a deeper light for understanding”.

“So I have been basking in this light for many years as an avid reader as well as a crossword fan. I enjoyed the experience so much that I decided to write one myself and by mid 2015 I had completed 30 crossword puzzles and offered it to be published,” she said.

Mrs Adablah said it was internationally accepted that children learn faster and easily through innovative, creative and fun ways hence the need to make learning materials and methods interesting for them in the country.

According to her, though it was a bit of a challenge when solving crossword puzzles, it was imperative that such method be used to train children and introduced them to new vocabularies.

She further urged parents to help change the habit of their children idling and engaging in unprofitable pastimes as they watch unedifying programmes on television.

By Charles Amankwa