The message that parents should read to their kids is getting out, I know. But how many of us who take that message seriously could list 10 compelling reasons why it’s so important? Below are a number of common sense reasons why the parent-child reading experience affects so many areas in a child’s life so positively.
Reading Builds Your Relationship with Your Child
Reading time will become the time both of you slow down and experience a great story and each other.
Students Exposed to Reading Before Preschool Do Well In Their Formal Education
Reading increases your child’s learning potential, as studies have shown.
Listening to a Parent Read Builds Your Child’s Speech Skills
Your child’s fundamental speech skills are being formed from a toddler to preschool and just listening to you read to them reinforces the sounds they should use when they start to read on their own.
Reading Teaches Children How to Read a Book
You child will learn that you read from left to right and the images are different than words.
Reading Gives Your Child Better Communication Skills
Communication skills are improved with all the different concepts children learn from the books themselves and back and forth between you and your child is just as important.
Reading Helps Children Grasp Abstract Concepts
By reading to your child, you give them the ability to use logic, recognize cause and effect, and how to use good judgment.
Reading Certain Books Can Make New Experiences Less Stressful For Your Children
If your child is about to go to school for the first time then read them a book about starting preschool. As you read them a story that deals with the same problems they are experiencing, their anxieties about new experiences will stay at healthy levels.
Reading Helps Children to Concentrate
At first there will be squirming and distractions but that will fade as the child gets acclimated to story time. From there, they will learn to sit for the entire reading and begin to comprehend what the book is communicating. Attention span and comprehension will go a long way to improving their formal education when it comes time.
Reading To Your Children Helps Them Read On Their Own as They Grow
There is an abundance of options for children to pass their time, such as video games, television, and other entertainment. The earlier you put books in the mix as an option, the more likely they will read on their own as they grow.
You can get started today! Thanks to the folks at Early Moments for their commitment to kids!
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Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge, Author
Biography | View
- Just Fine They Way They Are (Calkins Creek, March 1, 2011)
- The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton (Clarion Books, 2010)
- Thank You Very Much, Captain Ericsson! (Holiday House, 2005; Berndtsdotter Books, 2012)
- When Esther Morris Headed West (Holiday House, 2001)
- The Legend of Strap Buckner (Holiday House, 2001)
- Wicked Jack (Holiday House, 1995)
Speaker / Presenter
Connie is an experienced speaker and presenter who enjoys sharing her passion for writing and her experience as a writer with readers and writers of all ages. She has presented to students, community, civic and professional organizations, writing groups, library audiences, and seniors – wherever book lovers gather!