As parents, we have a duty to give unconditional love to our children, and to nurture the potential in each new child that is born into the world. One of the greatest ways to do that is to give your child the gift of reading aloud to them.
This can begin at a very young age with story books and bedtime stories. A child who is read to each day from birth will have improved vocabulary and brain development. By age five, a child can begin to make connections between written and spoken language, and in many instances, learn how to read themselves!
20 minutes of daily reading at home makes an important difference in the life of a child throughout all stages of development. A child who only reads five minutes a day is exposed to 282,000 words, whereas a child who reads for 20 minutes each day is exposed to 1.8 million words.
As children grow older, distractions start to creep in. Very few parents would argue the benefits of nightly reading; however, too often, it starts to fall out of the bedtime routine. In the fast-paced world we live in, it seems children can find the time for 20 minutes on an iPad, watching YouTube videos, and/or playing video games like Fortnite, but why can’t they find the time for 20 minutes of reading that will take them to places they didn’t know possible, expand their imaginations, and open their mind to new worlds?
This is where parents can be creative problem-solvers. As an educator and a parent of two active boys, here are some tips that can work for your family:
- Create a family book club. Reading brings families together. Books can initiate conversation, opportunities to discuss ideas, and to derive meaningful lessons from a book that everyone is reading together.
- Choose a designated comfy, cozy place to read in your house. Maybe place some large pillows, bean bags, and oversized cushions on the floor; maybe it’s a sectional under a window with lots of natural light. Make that place your family’s go-to place for reading.
- Discover your child’s interests and cultivate them. Does your child prefer fiction to nonfiction? Series that follow a single protagonist along on many adventures? Maybe take your child to the library or bookstore to gain a sense of what they like so they always have something at hand to choose when it’s time to read.
- Have them select a “back burner” book. This is a book they can go to right after finishing a book.
- Reward kids for reading. In our house, each child has a colored marble they place in a mason jar when they’ve read for 20 minutes. When the jar is full, the boys count up the number of red versus white marbles; whoever has more earns the opportunity to pick a family activity!
- Finally, magazines count! Reading doesn’t always have to be from a book. There are many literary and special-interest magazines geared toward young readers; your local library is a good place to start.
