The importance of reading to children

Reading with Your Child | Reading Rockets

By: Bernice Cullinan, Brod Bagert

There is no more important activity for preparing your child to succeed as a reader than reading aloud together. Fill your story times with a variety of books. Be consistent, be patient, and watch the magic work.

It's no secret that activities at home are an important supplement to the classroom, but there's more to it than that. There are things that parents can give children at home that the classrooms cannot give.

Start young and stay with it

At just a few months of age, an infant can look at pictures, listen to your voice, and point to objects on cardboard pages. Guide your child by pointing to the pictures, and say the names of the various objects. By drawing attention to pictures and associating the words with both pictures and the real-world objects, your child will learn the importance of language.

Children learn to love the sound of language before they even notice the existence of printed words on a page. Reading books aloud to children stimulates their imagination and expands their understanding of the world. It helps them develop language and listening skills and prepares them to understand the written word. When the rhythm and melody of language become a part of a child's life, learning to read will be as natural as learning to walk and talk.

Even after children learn to read by themselves, it's still important for you to read aloud together. By reading stories that are on their interest level, but beyond their reading level, you can stretch young readers' understanding and motivate them to improve their skills.

It’s part of life

Although the life of a parent is often hectic, you should try to read with your child at least once a day at a regularly scheduled time. But don't be discouraged if you skip a day or don't always keep to your schedule. Just read to your child as often as you possibly can.

If you have more than one child, try to spend some time reading alone with each child, especially if they're more than two years apart. However, it's also fine to read to children at different stages and ages at the same time. Most children enjoy listening to many types of stories. When stories are complex, children can still get the idea and can be encouraged to ask questions. When stories are easy or familiar, youngsters enjoy these "old friends" and may even help in the reading.

Taking the time to read with your children on a regular basis sends an important message: Reading is worthwhile.

One more time

You may go through a period when your child favors one book and wants it read night after night. It is not unusual for children to favor a particular story, and this can be boring for parents. Keep in mind, however, that a favorite story may speak to your child's interests or emotional needs. Be patient. Continue to expose your children to a wealth of books and eventually they will be ready for more stories.

Talking about stories

It's often a good idea to talk about a story you are reading, but you need not feel compelled to talk about every story. Good stories will encourage a love for reading, with or without conversation. And sometimes children need time to think about stories they have read. A day or so later, don't be surprised if your child mentions something from a story you've read together.

Remember when you were very young

It will help, however, if we open our eyes to some things adult readers tend to take for granted. It's easier to be patient when we remember how much children do not know. Here are a few concepts we adults know so well we forget sometimes we ever learned them.

There's a difference between words and pictures. Point to the print as you read aloud.
Words on a page have meaning, and that is what we learn to read.
Words go across the page from left to right. Follow with your finger as you read.
Words on a page are made up of letters and are separated by a space.
Each letter has at least two forms: one for capital letters and and one for small letters.

These are examples of hieroglyphics.

Imagine how you would feel if you were trying to interpret a book full of such symbols. That's how young readers feel. But, a little patience (maybe by turning it into a puzzle you can solve together) is certain to build confidence.

Advertise the joy of reading!

Our goal is to motivate children to want to read so they will practice reading independently and, thus, become fluent readers. That happens when children enjoy reading. We parents can do for reading what fast food chains do for hamburgers? ADVERTISE! And we advertise by reading great stories and poems to children.

We can help our children find the tools they need to succeed in life. Having access to information through the printed word is an absolute necessity. Knowledge is power, and books are full of it. But reading is more than just a practical tool. Through books we can enrich our minds; we can also relax and enjoy some precious leisure moments.

With your help, your children can begin a lifelong relationship with the printed word, so they grow into adults who read easily and frequently whether for business, knowledge, or pleasure.

Benefits & Importance of Reading to Children

Blog

03/03/2017

It’s undeniable that a child’s reading skills are important to their success in school, work, and life in general. And it is very possible to help ensure your child’s success by reading to them starting at a very early age. Continue reading to learn more about the top benefits of reading to children and how reading can support them for the future.

7 Benefits of Reading to Children

Whether you’re reading a classic novel or fairy tales before bed, reading aloud to children can significantly benefit your child’s life. Some benefits reading to children include:

Supported cognitive development
Improved language skills
Preparation for academic success
Developing a special bond with your child
Increased concentration and discipline
Improved imagination and creativity
Cultivating. lifelong love of reading

Supported cognitive development

Reading to young children is proven to improve cognitive skills and help along the process of cognitive development. Cognitive development is the emergence of the ability to think and understand; it’s “the construction of thought processes, including remembering, problem solving, and decision-making, from childhood through adolescence to adulthood” (HealthofChildren.com). It refers to how a person perceives and thinks about his or her world through areas such as information processing, intelligence, reasoning, language development, attention span, and memory.

When you begin reading aloud to your child, it essentially provides them with background knowledge on their young world, which helps them make sense of what they see, hear, and read. In fact, many educators and researchers postulate that “It is the talk that surrounds the reading that gives it power, helping children to bridge what is in the story and their own lives,” rather than just the vocalization of the words. Introducing reading into your young child’s life, and the conversations that it will prompt, helps them to make sense of their own lives, especially at a young age.

Consider this excerpt from a study on toddlers’ cognitive development as a result of being read aloud to:

“A child care provider reads to a toddler. And in a matter of seconds, thousands of cells in these children’s growing brains respond. Some brain cells are ‘turned on,’ triggered by this particular experience. Many existing connections among brain cells are strengthened. At the same time, new brain cells are formed, adding a bit more definition and complexity to the intricate circuitry that will remain largely in place for the rest of these children’s lives.”

Therefore, the more adults read aloud to their children, the larger their vocabularies will grow and the more they will know and understand about the world and their place in it, assisting their cognitive development and perception.

Improved language skills

Reading daily to young children, starting in infancy, can help with language acquisition, communication skills, social skills, and literacy skills. This is because reading to your children in the earliest months stimulates the part of the brain that allows them to understand the meaning of language and helps build key language, literacy and social skills.

In fact, a recent brain scan study found that “reading at home with children from an early age was strongly correlated with brain activation in areas connected with visual imagery and understanding the meaning of language” (TIME.com)

These cognitive skills and critical thinking skills are especially important when you consider that, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, more than one in three American children start kindergarten without the skills they need to learn to read. About two-thirds of children can’t read proficiently by the end of the third grade.

Furthermore, while a child will be able to latch onto vocabulary and language he or she hears around him or her, introducing reading into their auditory learning provides another benefit: it introduces the language of books, which differs from language heard in daily life. Whether it’s a children’s book or classic novel, book language is more descriptive, and tends to use more formal grammatical structures.

Prepare for academic success

Early reading with your child is a true one-on-one opportunity for children to communicate with their parents and parents to communicate with their children. It allows children to grow their vocabulary skills with exposure to new words and listening skills they develop from hearing someone read to them that become vital to their academic success.

Studies have shown that “the more words that are in a child’s language world, the more words they will learn, and the stronger their language skills are when they reach kindergarten, the more prepared they are to be able to read, and the better they read, the more likely they will graduate from high school” (PBS.org).

Numerous studies have shown that students who are exposed to reading before preschool are more likely to do well when they reach their period of formal education. According to a study completed by the University of Michigan, there are five early reading skills that are essential for development. They are:

Phonemic awareness – Being able to hear, identify, and play with individual sounds in spoken words.
Phonics – Being able to connect the letters of written language with the sounds of spoken language.
Vocabulary – The words kids need to know to communicate effectively.
Reading comprehension – Being able to understand and get meaning from what has been read.
Fluency (oral reading) – Being able to read text accurately and quickly.

While children will encounter these literacy skills and language development once they reach elementary school and beyond, you can help jumpstart their reading success by reading to them during infancy and their early toddler years.

While they won’t be able to practice fluency or phonics at that stage, they will get an earlier introduction to phonetic awareness, vocabulary and reading comprehension, all of which will set them up for success as they grow and interact with the world around them.

Developing a special bond with your child

It goes without saying that reading to your young child on a regular basis can help you forge a stronger relationship with them. When it comes to children, one of the most important things you can do to positively influence their development is spend time with them. Reading to your children provides a great opportunity to set up a regular, shared event where you can look forward to spending time together. With shared reading, your child will trust and expect that you will be there for them. The importance of trust to small children cannot be overstated.

Reading a favorite book to your children not only helps you bond with them, but also gives your children a sense of intimacy and well-being. This feeling of intimacy helps your child feel close to you, and the feelings of love and attention encourage positive growth and development.

With babies specifically, although they may not be able to understand what you’re saying when you read to them, reading aloud provides a level of invaluable nurturing and reassurance. Very young babies love to hear familiar voices, and reading is the perfect outlet to create this connection.

At a broader, more scientific level, it’s the parent-child relationship, nurturing relationships between caregivers and children that set a positive life course. If you are able to read aloud with your child at a predictable, scheduled time that fits with the daily routines of home and school, you’ll be able to provide something constant that they can expect and likely even look forward to.

Reading aloud together and having a shared activity gives you and your child something to talk about, which in turn supports the development of reading and writing skills (per the vocabulary and reading comprehension areas of development mentioned above). And down the road, reading together can be used to discuss real-life experiences and issues. A children’s book can provide springboards to meaningful discussions about many different topics which can further develop a child’s critical thinking skills.

At its core, literature is one of the best ways to help kids understand something without necessarily having to experience it for themselves. Reading to your child helps to expose them to all types of subjects and concepts, building our children’s understanding of humanity and the world around them (ReadBrightly.com).

Increased concentration and discipline

Introducing regular reading time into your child’s schedule has another benefit outside of creating shared time together: increased discipline and concentration. Very young children rarely sit still for long, and it’s oftentimes difficult to get them to focus. But when you introduce regular reading to your children, you may start to observe a change in behavior. Toddlers may initially squirm and become distracted during story time, but eventually they’ll learn to stay put for the duration of the book.

According to EarlyMoments.com, along with reading comprehension comes “a stronger self-discipline, longer attention span, and better memory retention, all of which will serve your child well when she enters school. ”

Improved imagination and creativity

Young children naturally have a capacity to dream big and use their imaginations. Reading aloud to your child helps them use their imaginations to explore people, places, times, and events beyond their own experiences. Reading as an imaginative activity can open doors to all kinds of new worlds for your child. By widening your child’s imagination, your child is more likely to dream bigger and act creatively which can benefit they school, work, and life in the future.

Cultivating a lifelong love of reading

According to Jim Trelease, author of the best-seller, The Read-Aloud Handbook: “Every time we read to a child, we’re sending a ‘pleasure’ message to the child’s brain… You could even call it a commercial, conditioning the child to associate books and print with pleasure” (ReadAloud.org)

This connection between reading and “pleasure” is crucial for success later in life. As personal development coach and speaker Brian Tracy says, your ability to expand your mind and strive for lifelong learning is critical to your success — “Learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field. ”

Reading is the key for lifelong learning, and if you can instill a love of reading at an early age, then a commitment to lifelong learning is sure to follow. Reading aloud presents books as sources of pleasant, valuable, and exciting experiences. Children who value books are motivated to read on their own, and will likely continue to practice independent reading throughout the rest of their lives.

When it comes to reading to your children, the benefits to your child’s life range far beyond the development of a close bond with them, although that’s certainly one of them. Reading aloud to children is truly the single-most important activity for building these understanding and skills essential for reading success that your child will carry with them all throughout their life.

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The importance of books in the development of preschool children

The importance of books for a child is very great. Books serve to expand the child's understanding of the world, to acquaint him with things, nature, everything that surrounds him.

It is the parents who read the child's first books and influence the formation of his preferences and reading tastes.

You need to read with your child: take a book, sit down and read. When systematically books are read aloud, then over time the child begins to understand the structure of the work: where the beginning and end of the work, how the plot develops. The child develops logical thinking. Thanks to reading, the child learns to correctly compose sentences, his vocabulary expands, and his imagination develops. In addition, the child develops the ability to listen, and this is a very important quality. nine0003

Experience shows that those children who were read books in childhood, told fairy tales, becoming adults, they read a lot. Reading helps the child to better understand the native language, develops imagination.

It is believed that those children do not like to read, in whose families there was no tradition of reading aloud. It is also bad when a child is forced to read in early childhood, great success is expected of him, this can discourage the child from reading. Do not refuse the child when he asks to listen to how he reads. nine0003

Why read books to children?

Children have a great need for their parents to read aloud to them. For the successful development of the child, family reading is very important, and not only until the child himself can read, but also at a later age. Children look forward to when mom or dad has time for them.

In order for a child to grow up mentally healthy, he needs full communication with his parents, personal communication, when attention is paid to him completely. And reading together makes that possible. nine0003

The first reason to read books is to satisfy the child's need for security

and security. A single space is created, a sense of belonging. Such moments have a strong influence on the formation of a comfortable sense of the world.

The second reason is the feeling of value and significance of one's "I" .

When parents read what is interesting to the child and are ready to discuss topics that are significant to him, strive to understand his views as best as possible, the child develops an idea of himself as a significant person whose needs and interests are important (because they pay attention to such important people - parents).

The third reason is the formation of values 

The book affects the moral ideals of the child, forming his values. The heroes of the books perform various actions, experience various life situations, consonant with the world of the child or unknown to him. Using the examples of situations in which the heroes of the books find themselves, the child learns to understand what good and evil, friendship and betrayal, sympathy, duty, honor are. And the task of parents is to help see the reflection of these values in the life of the child. nine0003

Release from fears

The book is also a means of defusing experiences that are painful or frightening for a child, which it is not always possible to cope with in a familiar situation. The child, together with the hero, experiences his failures and victories, overcomes fears and difficulties on the way to the goal. Thus, freeing yourself from your own fears and negative experiences. That is why a child can re-read a story (or a whole book) many times if it is consonant with his life situation. The child again and again experiences what he cannot yet cope with in reality. nine0003

Teaching new patterns of behavior

Through the book, the child perceives different patterns of behavior (how to make friends, how to achieve goals, how to resolve conflicts) that can be effective in various life situations. The greatest effect can be achieved if the reading is also supplemented by a joint discussion of who and what took out for themselves, what they liked, what was close, frightened, amused. Parents can help the child to see the analogies of what they read with his own life. nine0003

A book is the best teacher of a child.

With its help, he will be able to find answers to his questions, learn about the world and himself, experience the stories of heroes, fantasize the development of further events of a particular work.

The kid is growing, which means that every day more and more new experiences await him, he actively explores the world and makes many discoveries. He receives more and more diverse information he needs for further correct physical, mental and mental development. Children receive new knowledge from the people around them, primarily from their parents, as well as from books. nine0003

It's no secret that today's children read little, preferring books to watching TV programs and videos, computer films. This sad reality should make us parents think and try to somehow correct the situation.

From a very young age, babies need to read as many books as possible. It is very important that he loves this activity. The book may be of interest to both boys and girls, the main thing is to find an option that the child will like. nine0003

Scientists have found that a child who is read to systematically accumulates a rich vocabulary.

Reading with the mother, the child actively develops imagination and memory.

It is reading that performs not only a cognitive, aesthetic, but also an educational function. Therefore, parents need to read books to their children from early childhood.

The variety of children's books surprises, but not always pleases. It is important to remember that in any book, including children's, the most important thing is the content. nine0077

Recommendations for purchasing literature:

Children 2-3 years old love books with large pictures, love to look at them. Here Russian folk tales come to the rescue: "Turnip", "Gingerbread Man", "Ryaba Hen", "Teremok".
It is always easier for a small child to perceive a story than reading. Therefore, tell him fairy tales in your own words and at the same time look at the pictures for the book.
In the third year of life, the vocabulary increases rapidly, and the child can already read poems. Introduce the work of A. Barto, Z. Alexandrova. nine0003

In children 4-5 years old, vocabulary is activated, coherent speech is developing. When reading literary works to a child, you need to pay attention to individual words and expressions. You can learn to retell short texts of Russian folk tales.

Slowly start memorizing poems. At this age, you can introduce the child to the tales of foreign authors, heroic folk tales, stories about nature and animals, and the work of K. Chukovsky. nine0003

For children 6-7 years old among all genres of fiction, fairy tales are still in the first place, only author's ones are added to the folk ones. Therefore, they can be introduced to the work of Eduard Uspensky, with the funny stories of N. Nosov. Children of this age should buy bright books with large print and many beautiful pictures, the plot of the book should be interesting so that the child wants to read to the end. A book at that age should be fun. When choosing a book, pay attention to the number of dialogues in the works, because you can read by roles. nine0003

In order for a child to love a book, parents need to work hard.

Advice for parents

Talk about the value of the book more often;
Cultivate a respect for the book by displaying your family's book heirlooms;
You are the main example for the child, and if you want your child to read, then it is worth spending some time with the book too;
Visit the library together, bookstores; nine0111
Buy books that are bright in design and interesting in content;
Rejoice in the successes of the child, but do not focus on mistakes;
Discuss the book you have read among family members;
Tell your child about the author of the book you read;
Have family readings more often.
Reading for children should become a daily habit, a necessity.

The benefits of reading books for children or how to cultivate curiosity

A wide variety of gadgets, computer games, audio books gradually turns reading as such into an "uninteresting" activity for the younger generation. Instead of fiction, parents buy game consoles for their children, allow them to watch uncontrolled television programs that inhibit brain development. It is much easier to get information from short messages, provided with a mass of visual accompaniment.

By the way, according to the Public Opinion Foundation, Russia has long ceased to be the most reading country, and 44% of citizens have never opened a book in a year. This is understandable - babies are now practically born in hands with a touchscreen phone, and adults are gradually switching to a passive perception of information from electronic devices. nine0003

Why do children need to read?

Meanwhile, scientists have proven that reading for 6 minutes reduces stress levels by more than 2 times. Listening to soothing music and walking are only in second and third place in relieving stress.

Researchers in the UK claim that reading is as beneficial to the body as fitness is to the muscles, because during this process a person exercises the entire brain.

There are completely different processes in the gray matter if you read for pleasure and if you are trying to learn information, for example, to pass an exam. Scientists conducted research and found that at the moment of transition from ordinary reading to the desire to memorize the text in detail, active blood circulation begins in the head and the type of nervous activity completely changes. Blood reaches those areas of the brain that are responsible for cognition and concentration. Any kind of neurological load is good for the brain, it activates blood circulation, improves tissue nutrition. nine0003

What is the main benefit of reading?

The benefits of books for children are beyond doubt. Children love to be read to. It is from the parents that the baby hears the first poems and fairy tales, and if the parents do not ignore reading even the smallest, then with a very high probability the book will soon become the child's best friend. Why? Because book :

expands the child's understanding of the world
introduces everything that surrounds the child: nature, objects, etc.
affects the formation of preferences and reading tastes of the child
develops thinking - both logical and imaginative
expands vocabulary, memory, imagination and fantasy
teaches how to write sentences correctly.

Children to whom parents read aloud regularly begin to understand the structure of a literary work (where the beginning, how the plot unfolds, where the end comes). Through reading, the child learns to listen - and this is important. Getting acquainted with books, the child learns his native language better. nine0003

Children usually look forward to being read to by their parents. Reading aloud is of great importance for those children who can already read the book themselves. Family reading is a guarantee of well-being, a way of communication between parents and children, a method of education and good leisure. That is why mom and dad should always have time to read to children.

Psychologists believe that children to whom parents read books are emotionally balanced and self-confident.

Here's what happens when we read together:

Children who are often read to feel close, protected, safe. Such children are much more comfortable to live than those who are deprived of the joy of reading.
While reading together, children form a moral attitude towards the world. The heroes of the books do a variety of things, get into false situations, make decisions - all this the child can discuss with the parent, while forming an understanding of good and evil, friendship and betrayal, sympathy, duty, honor.
When listening to a literary work, the child inherits a variety of behaviors through the book: for example, how to become a good friend, how to achieve a goal, or how to resolve a conflict. The role of parents here is to help compare situations from a fairy tale with situations that can happen in real life. nine0111

The book is the key to child development

The benefits of reading books for children are very great. Early childhood and the preschool period is a time that must not be missed in order to lay the most valuable qualities in a child, because it is at this time that the inner world of the child is formed. And here a book is a good helper, which helps to shape the worldview of the child, his morality, values, and the general level of culture.

From the first books, the little ones learn about the rules of politeness and the basics of health, as well as the simplest rules of life. Toddlers are often read short folklore works, unpretentious poems, in which folk wisdom is presented in forms accessible to crumbs. nine0003

Instilling a love of reading in AMAKids

AMAKids Intelligence Development Academy pays special attention to reading and has developed a whole methodology to increase reading speed. The technique is called Liberica. After completing the Liberica course, you will be able to read books at lightning speed and work with large amounts of information at the same speed. This is a practical skill, acquiring it, the reading speed increases by 5 or more times relative to the starting readings after completing the main course of Liberica. And 10 times or more when fully exploring Liberica and Liberica+. AMAKids students perceive reading as an interesting process and easily immerse themselves in the material.