Family and Parenting: Information For Families

You can start instilling the love for reading in your child very early in life. According to research, reading to your child has a wealth of benefits. Experts involved in child development encourage reading to a child. It is among the most effective ways of building language neural connections. The benefits of reading to a child are listed below.

• 1. It provides a means of parent-child bonding. This produces a sense of satisfaction in a child.
  2. It relaxes a child.
  3. It promotes increased attention span. This helps a child concentrate.
  4. It broadens imagination and sharpens listening skills.
  5. It instills a child with respect toward reading that stays throughout life.
  6. It creates communication between parents and child.
  7. It introduces a child to language and new words.
  8. It introduces a child to information about colors, shapes, means of transportation, houses, and much more.
  9. It teaches your child about people, situations, relationships, the concept of good and bad, and more.

If you want your child to reap the benefits of reading, then you must play a role in the process. Since your child imitates the behavior of parents, make sure he or she sees you read books. Show that reading is a part of your life. When you read book to or with your child, stay relaxed and happy. Let your child notice that reading is enjoyable. It should not look like it is a stressful activity for you. Further, consistency is very important. Read at the same time each day. Make sure the selected time is when you both are comfortable and not in a rush to do anything else. While reading to a child who does not know how to read yet, run your fingers under the print. Do not force your child to follow your finger. Simply glide across the pages, so that your child understands that words and letters are symbols that help communicate ideas.

Concerning book choice, the books you read should reflect your child’s interests and age. Young children like colors and drawings or pictures of people. Make sure that your child would appreciate the book choice. If a child loves a particular book and wants to read it over and over again, do it. He needs to find pleasure in books. It may seem redundant for you, but look at the big picture—your child is appreciating books. From the choice, you will know what is interesting for the child.

Despite this, always make sure to expose your child to a variety of books. Further, use reading as a way to deal with your child’s fears and introduce changes in life. For instance, you can choose books about going to school or moving to a new city, if your child will experience these changes. Make sure your child has easy access to books, so he or she can browse through them when need be. Take books along with you both as you go trips or places where you need to wait.