Reading to your children is one of the best things that you can do as a parent, it’s as simple as that.
Here’s why.
It’s a bonding experience
Life is busy, and reading with your child is a great way to take some time out of your busy routine and simply spend some one on one time with them.
Reading is relaxing and calming and it can help both you and your child to destress after a hard day or week.
Doing this together regularly will help you stay bonded and feel closer to each other.
It helps lengthen their attention span
A lot of entertainment for children right now is short and fast, usually delivered through TVs and screens. As a result, children right now have shorter attention spans than they ever have had before.
Reading is a much slower and paced form of entertainment, and reading regularly can really help your child develop and lengthen their attention span.
Try and spend at least 30 minutes each day reading with your child or encourage at least 30 minutes of independent reading time as they get older.
Doing this will help them in the future as they will be able to hold their attention on important things for much longer than they would otherwise. It will also help them develop as patient and calm children.
It helps develop their vocabulary
Reading regularly helps children develop their vocabulary and increase the number of words they know.
Children who read regularly have higher IQs and wider vocabularies than those who don’t.
Reading will help them grow into smarter and more articulate teenagers and adults, which can never be a bad thing.
It will help them get ahead at school
On a following note, reading regularly with your child will help them advance at school.
They will find reading, spelling, and concentrating in school much easier and more intuitive than the members of their class who have done less reading up until this point.
Reading to your children when they are small and through their school time will help them greatly at school and will decrease the stress they feel with tests and class assignments.
If they struggle with reading, reading with them at an early age before they start school will help you highlight this early too and so you can take action to get them extra help and support if they need it. Problems are never as bad if you know about them early and you are able to intervene and get extra support as soon as possible.
It helps them to articulate their feelings
Reading to your children regularly will help them develop their vocabulary and their ability to articulate things, and so this in turn will allow them to talk about their thoughts and feelings more easily and freely.
A child who can articulate how they feel will experience less frustration and stress as they are able to ask for what they want and need.
This will help you as a parent too as you will be able to know how to help them more easily.
There are so many advantages to reading with your child and so if you haven’t started yet, there’s no better time to start than now.
Go dig out that old copy of Harry Potter and get reading!
