Kids are quite impressionable. Their brains are sponges absorbing all the information presented in front of them. It's important to read to your child for several reasons.
Here are a few of the benefits of reading to your child.
Benefits of Reading
1. Bonding Time
Reading time is bonding time. Reading to your kid helps you create and nourish a special relationship with them. When you make it a daily tradition, you remind them that no matter what may have happened that day and no matter how annoyed you are, you’ll be with them. Always.
It’s a soothing activity that opens up communication lines between you both.
2. Cognitive Development
When you read to your child, you help them develop cognitive skills useful in school and life. They learn faster and can hold their own amongst other kids regarding reading abilities, language skills, and vocabulary. PBS.org supports this, informing us that “[o]ne study found that kindergarten children who were read to at least three times a week had a 'significantly greater phonemic awareness than did children who were read to less often.'”
Also, it helps in problem-solving. They may come across issues that challenge them and fire up their curiosity while being read to. Then, they try to solve these problems under your proper guidance, and when they do, that’s one trick up their sleeve in case they encounter it in their daily life.
Basically, reading to your kid makes learning fun for them, as they associate it with feelings of warmth, affection, and pleasure. Therefore, when they come across school learning, they aren’t averse to the experience.
3. Emotional Development
This is a fact that is not usually looked at. However, The New York Times states that a new study has highlighted the fact that reading to your child can help curtail behavioral issues such as aggression, poor attention span, and hyperactivity. (Klass.)
The lead investigator, Dr. Mendelsohn, said that when being read to, “ ...children have an opportunity to think about characters, to think about the feelings of those characters... they learn to use words to describe feelings that are otherwise difficult, and this enables them to control their behavior better when they have challenging feelings like anger or sadness.” (Klass.)
Children may even use certain books to reflect their moods and may assign certain books for certain emotions.
There are a host of other benefits, including the fact that reading to your kid enhances their listening skills so that they can listen to and absorb learning and parental advice.
As a bonus, we’ve put down some tips to help you in your reading journey:
Start early.
Make it a daily routine and be consistent with it.
Gently prompt questions and statements concerning characters and illustrations from them.
Let them choose. If they want a particular book, even if it’s been chosen so many times, it’s practically falling apart. If you want them to pick something else, you can gently urge them.
There you have it, why reading to your kids is important. Obviously, the benefits far outweigh the cons – whatever they may be. So, start making cozy reading time part of your family’s timetable and try to stick with it. If you need help, The Elite Nanny Team has the perfect full-time or part-time nanny to help advance your children's reading skills! Feel free to contact us; we’re always here!
CITATIONS
Klass, Perri. “Reading Aloud to Young Children Has Benefits for Behavior and Attention” Nytimes.com. 16 April 2018
Kriss, D.F.” Why Reading Aloud to Kids Helps Them Thrive” PBS.org. May 15, 2018