9 Reasons Why Reading to Your Kid is Important
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Reading to your kid at any age is one of the more important activities you will share together. Parents or carers may know that it makes sense to read to their kids but may not be aware of all the benefits reading brings. Although it is true that It is a foundation for building literacy skills, reading to your young learner has greater impact, both for kids and for parents.
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
Builds a Bond
Whether you are the parent or the caregiver reading to your young leaner is an opportunity to spend time together in a mindful way free of distractions. It provides a chance to put away life’s demands and connect with each other by doing an activity that brings enjoyment. You may sit them on your lap or they may snuggle up next to you in the chair, but in that moment they are being enriched by valuable sensory experiences, both auditory and tactile. You get to experience their curiosity, their excitment and maybe answer a question or ten!
With younger children, reading is not always a peaceful activity. They can take time to settle (or not), they may not want to snuggle up and sometimes they are simply not interested. Don’t try to force the moment, meet them where they are at to ensure reading remains a positive experience, not a rule enforced slog. If all you do is spend 10 minutes reading a book of your own it may be enough to peak their interest or at least let them see that reading is something takes place in their house.
2. Language Development
There is no doubt that from the moment we are born humans are hard-wired for language development. For young children being read to provides exposure to the variety of ryhthms and sounds that make up the patterns of any language and lays the neurological foundation for language acquisition. Recent research showed that reading to a young child correlated with activation within the areas of the brain associated with visual imagery and understanding the meaning of language.
3. Increases Vocabulary
Even before they are able to communicate verbally, reading exposes kids to vocabularly and grammar that goes beyond the day-to-day patterns of speaking they hear from parents or caregivers. The words they hear in books are often more complex than those heard in everyday speech. For example, a book about lions in Africa will introduce new vocabulary and also new ideas. This broader exposure has an important benefit. It makes it easier for a kid to increase their vocabulary and comprehension of texts. As they will be called upon to read and understand a variety of different materials at school whether it be in social studies or science, a good broad vocabulary enriches understanding and is crucial to school success.
A recent study discovered that a young child who has five books a day read to them will enter kindergarten having heard about 1.4 million more words than the child who was never read to and who will have heard around 4,600 words. A child raised in a literacy-rich environment is better prepared to read and more likley to pick up reading skills quickly and easily.
4. Develops Cognitive Skills
Cognitive skills attained in one part of a child’s life build the foundation for skills attained later. We can consider cognitive skills to include language, literacy and numeracy. For example, a broader vocabulary increases the ability to attain reading skills which in turn increases the opportunity to participate in and comprehend school lessons. Reading to your kid daily has a significant positive effect on their developing cognitive skills.
Importantly, cognitive skills are not set but influenced through investment in a child’s development and one of the most signficant influences is reading to a child from a young age. In fact, a parent or caregiver reading to a child will positively influence the child’s cognitive skills up to the age of 10 or 11. Moreover, there is the added benefit of stimulating their own motivation to read and the more they read, the more they develop their cognitive skills.
Something to consider is that reading and cognitive skills are affected by how frequently a child is read to prior to beginning school rather than a result of family background or the home environment.
5. Increases Attention Span
If we know one thing about young children we know this, they rarely still still! However, get them interested in a book and you might see the wriggling settle down and their interest in the story grow. Reading promotes attention-span persistance, which is related to excutive function and self-regulation. Quite simply, the longer the attention span the greater the cognitive flexibility, working memory and ability to regulate emotions, all of which impact school success. McClelland et al., (2014) discovered that attention span-persistence at age four significantly predicted math and reading skills at ages 7 and 21. When a child is read to they focus on the book, they listen to the story, they build their attention-span persistence.
6. Builds Empathy
An additional benefit of reading to your young learner is it helps them develop empathy. Empathy is fostered when they are challenged cognitively and emotionally to understand the perspective of someone who is unlike them. Stories that are told from the perspective of a protagonist who is different to them, particularly when supported by a parent or caregiver who uses cognitive verbs such as think or believe, are more likely to stimulate an empathic response.
7. Emotional Awareness
When your kid is told a story that shows the expression of big emotions like sadness or frustration, they begin to learn that such emotions are normal. They start to learn how to handle their own emotions in healthy ways that promote their own wellbeing and those of others. Storytime is a great opportunity for parents and caregivers to help their kid develop emotional awareness. Using questions such has, ‘Can you remember a time when you felt like this?’ or ‘What do you think you would do if you felt this way?’ gives your kid the opportunity to discuss emotions and start to build the beginnings of a toolkit for how to handle them.
8. A Lifelong Love of Reading
Connecting reading with pleasure has two major benefits. Firstly, reading is essential for lifelong learning and learning is essential to future succcess. A kid that enjoys reading on their own is likely to do so throughtout their lives and that will pay dividends in the classroom, the workplace and in life.
Secondly, books are the gate way to explore worlds beyond their own. Reading introduces places, ideas and possibilities they would not experience in their every day life. Reading broadens their imagination and lets them dream bigger!
9. A Chance to Talk About Important Topics
Books incorporate themes and are a great opener to talk to a child about how they are feeling, things they are experiencing or things they interested in. Themes are a great way to discuss something without being intrusive or confrontational. Rather than asking outright, ‘Is someone being mean to you?’ you can open the conversation with simple prompts like ‘What would you do if…’ or ‘If this happened to you how would you feel/act?’
What to Read and When
Photo by Lina Kivaka
The goal is to a little reading every day. It doesn’t matter when or where. It can be part of your nighttime routine, something you do when they wake up from a nap or a chance to share some time together when they have returned from school. The important thing is frequency. Read to them consistently and as often as you can.
For some recommendations based on age you can visit Common Sense Media.
Up to 6 months
Start as early as you can! Up to 6 months, it won’t matter what you read. You can read them the financials or the gossip pages, but as long as you are reading they are absorbing the rhythms, sounds, words and sentences.
6 months -3 years
As they grow, content matters and there are a plethora of age appropriate books that will keep them interested and stimulated. For the younger child, board books are the best place to start. They are sturdy for little hands to grasp and manipulate and simple in design. You can point to words and pictures and talk to them about what they are seeing and hearing.
3 years - 6 Years
Picture books are great for this age group. Reading what your child enjoys is a good place to start as it helps promote the idea that reading is enjoyable and rewarding. Don’t worry if they want to read the same book on repeat, as repetition helps develop language and if they like the book it is because it is appealing to them.
6 years - 10 Years
For some children, picture books will still be the go, for others chapter books and for the older children it may be middle grade fiction such as the Percy Jackson series.
Keep reading
Even when they can read for themselves they still enjoy sharing a book. As my own children aged, they would still ask if we could read together and we would follow an entire series from start to finish. It was still a great way to bond and to delve into what they were thinking, experiencing or feeling.
The Library is A Great Resource
Get a membership at your local library and use their resources. It won’t cost anything and if you find you have an avid reader you can satisfy their interests.
Libraries are community spaces and more than ever wonderful places for kids to discover the magic of reading. This is a place where they can cosy up with a new book, attend story time or roam the shelves looking for something interesting.
Make library day an exciting outing and help cultivate their love of reading.
The Final Word
Reading to your kid is one of the most beneficial activities you can do. Not only will you provide them with an opportunity to develop their language and cognitive skills and improve their school experience, but you’ll open up worlds beyond their imagination!