It goes without saying that reading with a child is important. Children have the opportunity to read at home, in early childhood centre settings and with their friends. There are numerous advantages to reading to your child every day, especially when they are at preschool /toddler age. One immediate benefit of reading to your child is that it helps them to grasp a better vocabulary. Another crucial benefit of reading your children is that it helps them to understand the world in which they live in and essentially teaches them life skills. We will highlight some of the kinds of life skills that your child will develop and understand from reading together.
Reading Helps to Enhance Bonds
When you’re snuggled up with your child sharing a book together, you will feel closer to your child. Time spent with your child, talking, reading or cuddling can all help to enhance the bond between a parent and a child. Reading together is a perfect way to relax and spend time with your child each day, especially for those parents that work and therefore time is precious.
Reading Creates A Hunger for Information
When you read to your child, your child begins to ask questions about what you are reading about. This enables you have an opportunity to talk together about what is happening in the book and applying this to everyday situations. In general, it can create a hunger for information as well as develop an interest in new topics and subjects.
Reading Helps Your Child to Get Ready to Be Successful
The more that you and your child read together, the more that your child will pick up and learn. Your child therefore gains knowledge from reading together and this knowledge can help them in many different ways. For example, if you read to a young child i.e. a baby or a toddler, they will already be one step ahead when they start preschool/school. If you share and read books to your child, it also means that they are also well prepared when it comes to reading independently. You can show your child what the title of a book is, look and discuss the pictures, teach them how to turn the pages and also teach them that the words go across the page and that we read from left to right. It is also a fact that children who take pleasure and enjoy reading tend to do better in not only literacy and language related subjects, but in all other subjects too.
Reading Encourages a Child’s Creativity and Imaginative Skills
A wonderful side effect of reading is seeing your child’s imagination open up. When we read to our children we allow them to feel the story and imagine that it is real. There’s nothing quite like seeing a child feeling excited about what’s going to happen next or thinking creatively and curiously about what they think may happen in the story.
Reading Gives Your Child’s Brain A Workout
When we read to young children their brain activity is stimulated and this can help to enhance and develop those much-needed early reading skills. Studies have highlighted that when a young child is read to, it impacts certain areas of the brain. These areas are crucial for language development in children.
Reading Helps to Enhance Language Skills
We speak to our children all the time, but the day to day conversations that we have usually consist of words that are limited and quite often we repeat what we say each day. When you read to your child, you give them access to new vocabulary related to different and new situations. If you have a child that is bilingual, reading can also help your child to develop these language skills and become fluent in both languages.
Reading Different Kinds of Books Teaches Children New Things
When your child is exposed to different books, all with different topics, they learn more and learn about new things. Consider reading books which teach your children life skills such as being kind, the importance of sharing etc. Additionally, read fiction books together which teach your children facts related to the world in which they live such as nature, animals, countries, cultures etc.
Reading and Books Are Entertaining
Technology is in abundance these days and it’s easy to get lost and carried away with TV, games consoles and tablets. Amongst the technology, make sure that you set time aside to read to and with you child, as books are no less entertaining than technology! As we are all too aware, screen time needs to be minimised and instead spend time letting your child browse a book and discuss a book etc.
Reading Helps A Child to Feel and Develop Empathy Towards Others
Once your child is able to see and feel a character in a story, they begin to understand and develop empathy. Once a child can relate to a character, they can begin to get a grasp what emotions are.
Reading Improves A Child’s Concentration
It may seem pointless reading to a toddler as all they seem interested in is throwing books, turning pages and changing from one book to another. In fact, you couldn’t be further from the truth as reading to a child of this age is very, very important. Regular reading to your child will help to improve your child’s concentration and help them to be able to sit and concentrate for longer. This will help them for when they begin school.
We have highlighted just a few of the benefits of reading with your child and it’s clear to see the crucial life skills that your child is exposed to and will develop when you read together.