Why reading is important…
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Why Is Reading Important For Kids? The importance of using story apps to enhance reading skills….
Mass education and literacy are phenomena of the modern world, but the importance of literacy cannot be overstated. Literacy unlocks the future, both for the reader and society as a whole. With increased literacy comes better quality of life, job perspectives, and more. Why is reading important for kids specifically, though? From increased language skills to emotional intelligence, reading with your children daily develops a number of lifelong skills that every person needs – young and old alike.
In this article, we are going to learn exactly why reading is important for kids and provide a few tips for reading with your children. Read on to find out more!
Reading and Storytelling
Before we jump into the top reasons childhood reading is important, let’s talk about the similarities and differences between reading and storytelling. As you probably figured, reading is a form of storytelling, but it involves the language being written down. In contrast, storytelling is the practice of orally reciting different stories, events, or past memories to someone else. Although the differences between reading and storytelling may sound obvious, they are critical. Because reading and storytelling are two different mediums for narration, they rely on and teach different skills. To provide your child the full benefits of early literacy, it’s important to both read and recite stories. This article talks about the benefits and tips for both as a result.
Why Is Reading Important For Kids?
So, why is reading important for kids? The answer isn’t outright simple, but there are four main benefits to be aware of.
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Strengthens The Parent-Child Relationship
To begin, reading with your child daily helps to strengthen the parent-child relationship. This benefit isn’t too difficult to understand. The more quality time you spend with your children, the stronger your relationships will be.
Reading daily with your child helps your child to feel loved, reassured, and worthy of attention. These feelings are crucial for children because it establishes healthy social relationships from an early age, which will benefit their relationships with you and others in the future as well.
2. Develops Language and Communication Skills
As you might expect, reading and storytelling with your child help to develop their language and communication skills. Through the act of reading or storytelling, you are indirectly teaching your child the basic rules of language. Children began to pick up on these rules so that they can communicate what they are feeling or thinking more adequately. Furthermore, developing language and communication skills benefits the child now and in the future. By learning key communication skills from an early age, the child can continue to develop them so as to use these skills in their future career, relationships, and more.
3. Fosters Emotional Intelligence
One benefit of reading you might not be aware of is that it fosters emotional intelligence. Whether you are a child or an adult, reading helps you gain a deeper understanding of yourself and others, as well as develop more empathy. That’s because reading and storytelling immerse the reader or listener into the shoes of someone else.
Because of these facts, frequent readers tend to be more emotionally in tune with themselves. Thus, they are better able to identify and rectify any emotions that may be deemed negative, such as anger, jealousy, or loneliness. At the same time, regular readers are able to identify with others and be very caring members of society.
4. Increases Creativity and Imagination
Reading and storytelling alike are crucial for increasing creativity and imagination in your child. It gets them accustomed to creative narratives and ideas. Obviously, creativity and imagination are important for artists, writers, and other artistic individuals, but it is actually critical for all walks of life. For example, those with increased creativity tend to problem solve and communicate with others much better than those with low levels of creativity. Hence, creative people tend to succeed in whatever careers and life path they decide on because they can critically think their way out of or into new situations.
5. Creates Earlier Readers
Children whose parents read them at least 5 books per day will hear over 1 million more words than children who are not read to. When children hear words read aloud, they are being prepared to see those same words in print. Although it takes time for them to make the connection of words they hear to the words they see in books and on papers at school, early exposure to words and language has a direct correlation to how early your child is likely to begin to read independently.
7. Raise a Lifelong Reader
Most people who are read to often as a child continue to love reading throughout their lives. A love of reading is something that will serve your child at all stages of life. Reading will help them learn in school and also discover that they can escape into the world of fictional characters as well. People who read regularly are more intellectually curious and tend to be more successful. Regular readers have a strong vocabulary from being exposed to so much language in the books that they read and they often learn passively without even realizing it, which can lead to an increased overall IQ.
8. Improved Concentration
Concentration is not always a strong suit in children. They are often inclined to move quickly from one activity or task to another on a whim. This is a natural developmental stage with toddlers and young children, but it’s important to help them work on being able to concentrate on a single task as they get older. Reading is an activity that requires focus and concentration to sit down and absorb the story and images on the pages. If your child enjoys reading and can sit still with a book for several minutes at a time, this will help them master the discipline required to focus.
Tips For Reading With Your Children
Here are some tips that can help you kickstart daily reading with your children:
Start Early
Although you may feel silly reading a book or telling a story to your newborn in the first few days and weeks of life, research shows that it is never too early to start reading. In fact, there are many benefits to reading to your child as early as the day you take them home from the hospital. Reading to your baby can help you build important routines that will help your child understand the flow of the day. Also, even though they are a long way from understanding the concepts in the stories, they enjoy the sounds of your voice and will love the stimulating pictures in high-contrast, bright board books.
Read Everyday
First and foremost, read every day. For best results, try to have a set reading time, such as after nap time or before bed. After all, people and children especially thrive on routines and predictability. This allows your child to look forward to their reading time and know that it is coming up.
Take Trips To Your Local Library
If you don’t already have a library card, now is a great time to get one. To weave some more reading and fun into your routine, start planning regular trips to your local library. Most libraries have infant and toddler story hours that are free to the public and can help you connect with your child and other parents in your community. Attending events like this are great for new parents who need socialization and it will help make reading a fun part of your routine from the start. As your child gets older, allow them to choose a new book or two every time you visit the library. This will make sure that you always have new reading options and it allows your child to make their own choices. It opens up the opportunity for great conversation because you can ask them why they chose certain books to learn more about their interests.
Alternate Between Picture Books and Storytelling
Since both storytelling and reading books are beneficial, it’s a great idea to alternate between reading picture books and storytelling. By alternating between these two mediums, you are introducing your child to both written language and oral language. Hence, your child will get all of the benefits of both. For example, read picture books Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. On the other days, tell them stories about your culture, past, or family. If you feel up to the task, you could try to create fun stories yourself.
Let Them Choose
As much as you might be sick of reading “Goodnight, Construction Site” or “Little Blue Truck” for what feels like the millionth time, it’s important to let your child choose which books they want to read. Set up your child’s bookshelf at a level that they can reach and allow them to select a book to read throughout the day or at bedtime. Some children may feel inclined to choose the same book every night over and over while others prefer to read a different book every night. This can actually tell you a lot about your child’s preferences and personality. Children often prefer the safety and comfort of things that they know. When they want to reread the same familiar stories it is often a sign that they prefer to feel comforted by things that they know well. On the contrary, children who always choose a new book may be more adventurous.
Encourage Them to Read and Tell Stories Out Loud to You
As your child gets older and more developed in their reading and storytelling skills, encourage them to read out loud and tell stories as well. This teaches them how to read themselves or how to formulate creative stories. Not to mention, involving your child in the storytelling process will often make them feel excited and ready to read.
Take Your Time
As an adult reading a board book or even an early reading picture book, it’s easy to feel like the concepts are overly simple. This may make you want to try to rush through storytime and move on to a more interesting task with your child. Try to resist this urge as much as you can and slow down. Flip your perspective to that of your child when you are reading with them. Look at the words and images with fresh eyes and see them the way that they see them. Call out interesting attributes on the animals or characters in a book. Talk through a new word that they may never have heard before. Even though we can read and process the simple concepts on the pages of children’s books in record time, remember that your child cannot. They are seeing things for the first time and figuring out the way the world works.
By slowing down and changing the way you see reading time hopefully, you will come to enjoy that time together more.
Final Thoughts
When talking about books, literacy and reading are highly important to children and adults alike. Give your children key skills that will last them the rest of their lives by reading and reciting stories with them daily. Not only will it teach them crucial educational, emotional, and social skills, but it will also deepen your relationship with them.
This article provides you with a new activity outside of our products in the reading app for 3rd graders, 2nd graders, 1st graders, and preschoolers.
Meta Description
Reading with your child daily fosters a number of critical skills in them from a young age. Read here to learn the top 4 benefits of childhood reading.
References
https://online.mc.edu/degrees/education/med/elementary/reading-for-elementary-students/#:~:text=Teaching%20Reading%20and%20Comprehension%20Skills&text=Good%20readers%20know%20sight%20words,what%20they%20want%20to%20learn.&text=Experiences%2C%20family%20dynamics%2C%20and%20health,nutrition%20affect%20how%20children%20learn.
https://ehe.osu.edu/news/listing/importance-reading-kids-daily-0/
