The Importance of Reading to Young Children

December 17, 2021

When children are young, they are constantly absorbing the information around them. Every word they hear, facial expression they see, and sensation they feel fosters their development. A great way to further their development is to provide them with exposure to rich language by regularly reading to them. Reading to your kids has many benefits, including:

Improves language skills – Children learn to speak by being exposed to words and sounds repeatedly. When a child is read to, they learn new words and begin to recognize the cadence of language. This helps to improve their receptive and expressive language skills.

Supports their cognitive development and develops critical-thinking skills – Reading to a child provides them with the background knowledge that they need to make sense of the world. As parents read with their child, they can pause to breakdown the story to improve their child’s understanding. By asking open-ended questions, parents can highlight the themes and morals from the book in a way that helps their child extract contexts to understand the world more.

Nurtures the parent-child bond - Spending time reading together is a great bonding experience. The child understands that their parent wants to spend time with them, which makes them feel special and important. Parents can encourage their child’s love of reading by finding books that reflect the interests of their child, having “quiet time” where the family independently reads together, and by limiting screen time. The positive feelings they experience during these moments will help them to form a positive association with reading and secures their attachment to their parent.

Inspires a child’s imagination – It feeds their curiosity, allowing them to investigate new ideas and concepts. As they listen to a story, children are transported to imaginary worlds that fuel their creativity.

Supports emerging literacy skills - Reading to a child helps them understand that symbols and words have meaning. They also begin to understand the rules of reading (I.e. reading from left to right). This is the beginning steps of emergent literacy.

Encourages a love of reading – When reading is a fun, routine, part of child’s life they develop a positive association to reading. It brings them joy, and their parents help to engrain the value that reading brings to their lives.

Strengthens their social-emotional development – Children who are read to show less aggression, hyperactivity, and attention deficits. Reading helps children learn to label their emotions and feelings, which leads to fewer tantrums and outbursts. Children learn to be more empathetic and compassionate by discussing the themes and morals in their favorite books.

Every parent wants the best for their child. They are always searching for ideas to positively impact their child’s development. Reading is a simple activity they can implement that will have a huge impact on their child’s development. Parents who routinely read to their children, ensure that they are modeling a positive relationship with learning. When a child has a positive learning experience, there are no limitations to the possibilities of their success!