The Importance of Reading to Your Child
Here’s Ben Wakeling from our Parent Panel with a wonderful post about how and why we should encourage our children to enjoy books.
A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood.
A fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good.
Julia Donaldson
I could go on. In fact, I could recite the whole of ‘The Gruffalo’ word-for-word, because I must have read it to my son about a hundred times. Every night I’ll tuck him up in bed, point to a bookshelf crammed full of all kinds of great stories, from ‘Mog the Forgetful Cat’ to ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’. But it’s always ‘The Gruffalo’.
Not that I mind: it’s a wonderful book, and thoroughly deserves to have sold millions of copies worldwide. And, to be honest, I love reading to my son. It allows me to put on silly voices and mess around for a bit, all for his enjoyment; plus, it’s a great way for us to share a bit of private time, away from the excitement of the day, when his only aim is to climb on my back as many times as possible.
Aside from allowing me to give the Gruffalo a throaty Scottish accent, there are a whole host of reasons why reading to your child is an incredibly important part of their upbringing. A book will stimulate a child’s imagination far more than a TV programme, as well as taking great strides in furthering their vocabulary and intelligence.
Whilst there’s no reason why you can’t read to your child from birth – after all, babies know no more than the image of your face and the sound of your voice – a child’s imagination really starts to spark into life between the ages of three and seven, and this is where reading comes in. As they grow, you can start asking questions about the story, and encourage them to use their imagination. “What do you think happens next?” is a good question to ask; alternatively, ask questions about the characters which have no right or wrong answer: “Where do you think the prince lives?”, for example.
As well as boosting their imagination, reading to your child helps them to better understand their own emotions. Reading of characters in a story who are expressing familiar emotions can help a child learn to identify why they are feeling the same way. There are also some books which deal specifically with difficult times in a child’s life: the death of a grandparent, for example, or moving house. Reading a book on these topics to your child will aid them in making sense of the often confusing emotions they’re feeling.
Finally, reading to your child will instil a love of reading in them, a gift from you to your son or daughter that keeps on giving. Remember how wonderful it is when you lose yourself in a great book, how time flies and there seems to be nothing else other than you and the page? By reading to your child, you are developing this same love of books in them, and no doubt they’ll thank you for it.
I could go on, but must dash. My son is calling from his bedroom: something about terrible teeth and terrible claws…
When did you introduce books to your children? What is your little one’s favourite story at the moment? Share in a comment here and we’ll send one of you a BornFree Twist N’Pop Straw Cup to say thanks!
All three of our kids LOVE books and I am sure it is because we read to them every night. It is a gift for life, it costs nothing and gives so much pleasure. I would encourage every family to share a book whenever they possibly can!
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