One of the best activities to connect with a child and provide an enriching experience is reading.
It is undeniable that a child’s reading skills are important to their success in school, work and life in general. You can support your child’s success by reading to them starting at a very early age.
In this blog we look at the many benefits of reading to your child.
- Supports the development of literacy skills. To unlock reading and writing, young children need early literacy skills, including recognising letters, a basic understanding of language and being able to listen and concentrate. Reading to your child from an early age (even as babies) helps them develop these essential skills as they become more familiar with written and spoken language.
- Developing a special bond. 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.
- Improves learning outcomes for a child. Your child is more likely to enjoy reading as they grow older if they start at a younger age, which can in turn be prompted by your reading to them. The love for reading is proven to have better learning outcomes for children as they progress through school.
- Holistic development and outlook to life. A window to the world, books stimulate imagination and build our knowledge. For the youngest ones, even looking at pictures in books helps spark curiosity and interest. Books are a holistic learning tool at any age or stage in a human’s life.
- Supports development of fine motor skills. When toddlers and preschoolers hold a book and turn the pages, they are actually practising fine motor skills. These skills help them to successfully hold a pencil or crayon and form letters when they begin to write.
- Improved language skills. Reading daily to young children, starting in infancy, can help with language acquisition, communication skills and social. 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.
- Increased concentration and discipline. 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 behaviour. Toddlers may initially squirm and become distracted during story time, but eventually they’ll learn to stay put for the duration of the book.
When it comes to reading to your child, the benefits range far beyond the development of a close bond with them. Reading aloud to your is truly the single-most important activity that can build enduring and multiple development skills that they your child will carry with them all throughout their life.
