This is Why You Should Read to Your Kids

Reading is a way to inculcate your kids the love of books, and for me, that’s the best thing about the whole thing. My mom would read to me every day as a kid even though she had two jobs, but she made it her duty to read to my sibling and me every night. This made me love books and growing up, and I would go to the library every other day to exchange books; for me, reading was a way to connect with my single working mom. However, nostalgia is not the only reason, and you ought to read to your kids. Reading has many benefits for your kids and allows them to develop some pretty essential skills for the future.

Prepare your kids for academic success.

Reading to your kids from an early age is a way for you to bond with them but also gives them an opportunity to develop your children’s cognitive skills. According to linguists, children prior to the age of 12 are at their peak to learn new languages because this is when their language acquisition device is working at full throttle, and this is why reading is good for them. Reading to them allows your kids to develop their vocabulary, which exposes them to new words and expands their listening skills. This is vital for their academic success, and hearing someone say words that they are foreign allows them to develop their oral and phonetic skills. Early reading develops essential skills, which are:

• Fluency– the ability to read text quickly and accurately
• Phonemic awareness– being able to identify, hear ad play with individual sounds in spoken words
• Phonics- the ability to connect letters of a written language with the sound of a spoken language
• Reading Comprehension– the ability to understand and get meaning from what they’ve read
• Vocabulary– It teaches kids words that they need to know to communicate effectively

These skills give your child a head start when they start their academic journey. Though they aren’t wholly fluent at this stage, it is developing their brain, and the more they learn, the more they can interact with the world around them.

Cultivating a lifelong love for reading

Scientists have drawn a connection between reading and pleasure, which is crucial for later success in life. Reading is critical in lifelong learning and achievements, and it can instill a love for reading t an early age and them make them into committed lifelong readers. I can speak from personal experience on this one, and my mom used to read for me as a kid, which made me love books as I grew older and more. I have a huge book collection and currently have around 250 books on my bookshelf. Reading aloud presents books as sources of valuable, pleasant, and even exciting experiences. Children who love books and reading will be more motivated to read on their own and are more likely than not going to practice independent reading when they grow older. Reading can have a lifelong impact on your kids, and this not only creates a memory for them with their parents but also will make them have something to do in their downtime.

Improve creativity and imagination

Kids are already inquisitive and creative but reading to them make them more imaginative because it not only takes them into a new world and make them feel like they are part of the fictional world of the books you are reading but also make them want to read more and draw the world you are telling them about This is how you create their imagination and can develop their future creative expression. This also allows your kids to dream bigger, and this no longer keeps them restricted to the world they’re living in. And who knows, maybe they are the future Picasso in the making or the next J.K Rowling except for the TERF (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist) part, of course.

Reading to your kids, especially if you are a working parent, then reading to them is a way to create a close relationship with them and bond with them. Even if it is only 15 to 30 minutes a day, this makes a massive difference in the long run. Sound off in the comments section below and tell us if you want to read more about the benefits of reading to your toddlers.