FOTF-Logo-Stretch-Color.png
Search

The Benefits of Reading to Your Children

Share:
young boy reading a book, reading to children
iStock/Denise Erickson
Reading is one of the only entertainment mediums that’s also an essential life skill.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Table of contents

In today’s fast-paced world, reading often rides in the backseat of the entertainment car. While advances in technology have made for impressive entertainment choices, it’s important to remember that reading is the only entertainment medium that’s also an essential life skill.

Among other benefits, reading boosts intelligence, provides competence in school and for future jobs, and inspires the imagination like no digital medium can.

When I was in elementary school, my mom or dad took us to the library every two weeks. My sisters and I would plop ourselves down on the floor of the children’s book room and skim the titles — our heads tilted at 90 degrees. The checkout limit was a dozen books, which never seemed like enough. My parents, both avid readers, instilled in us a love for reading.

Without too much effort, you can teach your children to read and love it, keeping in mind a few simple tips and cautions. Try introducing your child or teen to some classic books and magazines you may have read in your younger years. You may even find some unexpected discoveries along the reading journey.

Benefits of Reading 

Research shows that avid readers:

  • Read better, write better, and concentrate better
  • Are quicker to see subtleties
  • Have an easier time processing new information
  • Have a better chance for a successful, fulfilling adult life
  • Have many interests and do well in a wide variety of subjects
  • Develop an ability to understand how other people think and feel
  • Acquire the ability to sift information and to understand how unrelated facts can fit into a whole
  • Tend to be more flexible in their thinking and more open to new ideas
  • Weather personal problems better without their schoolwork being affected

Given all the benefits of reading, it’s no wonder parents want to instill a love for reading in their children. And with the explosion of information in the workplace, only avid readers can stay well informed with relative ease. 

Navigate family life with grace and love!

Daniel P. Huerta, Focus on the Family's Vice President of Parenting, presents a collection of seven powerful character traits designed to help parents grow and thrive while raising Godly children.

Teaching Your Children to Love Reading 

Start now. No matter the age of your children, you can start teaching them to appreciate reading and to want to learn to read for themselves. Jim Trelease, author of The Read-Aloud Handbook, offers the following guidelines to help parents know what’s appropriate for different stages of development:

  • At four months of age, a child is able to listen and observe
  • When reading, your arms should encircle the child in such a way as to suggest support and bonding, but not imprisonment
  • By six months, children are more interested in grabbing a book to chew or suck on rather than listening. Bypass the problem by giving him or her a teething toy or other distraction.
  • At 8 months, he may prefer turning pages to steady listening. Allow him to explore this activity, but don’t let him take the book away from you.
  • At 12 months, the child’s involvement grows to turning pages for you, pointing to objects you name on the page, even making noises for animals on cue.
  • By 15 months and the onset of walking, his restlessness blossoms fully, and your reading times must be chosen so as not to frustrate his immediate interests.

Reading to Toddlers

  • By 2-years-old children are interested in everything and need names for those things. So plan to spend more time on each page naming items in pictures. Once a child is calm in the presence of books and more inclined to listen than to rip, introduce interactive books, like Pat the Bunny or I’m a Little Mouse. Familiarity is important in developing a lasting relationship with books, so the toddler years are a good time to purchase books to read and reread.
  • With 3- and 4-year-olds, you can start them reading for themselves by teaching initial sounds of letters. Alphabet books, magnetic letters on the fridge and drawing letters on paper can be fun and instructional. “The trick in this is to never quiz your child. Teach letters casually,” author Mary Leonhardt writes. 

 

Cautions for Parents

Below are a few words of caution for parents trying to develop their child’s reading ability.

Jim Trelease, author of The Read-Aloud Handbook, writes:

  • “Expect negative consequences if teaching your child to read becomes an obsession. Experts in psychology and education emphasize the importance of unforced learning during the formative childhood years. ‘Avoid compulsion and let early education be a matter of amusement. Young children learn by games; compulsory education cannot remain in the soul’ was the advice offered by Plato to parents.”
  • “Another big mistake is stopping reading to children too soon. The older the child, the less he is read to — in the home and classroom. Parents and teachers might say, “He’s in the top fourth-grade reading group — why should I read to him?” The reason is that a child’s listening level is often higher than his reading level. Children can hear and understand stories that are more complicated and more interesting than anything they could read on their own.”

What They Read

At first, you may concentrate on finding the right reading level or the right subject to interest your children and encourage them to read. Once they become proficient, your role switches. You become the gatekeeper of what they read, which is important — and a job that only you can do.

To help you keep ahead of what your kids are reading, take a look at book review sites, such as PluggedIn.com. Knowing your child and reading a review will help you decide what materials are of value to your kids and allow them to get the most out of their reading experience.

Dynamic CTA Template Below

Share:

About the Author

Read More About:

You May Also Like

Education

22 Books Kids Read at School

If you don’t have time to read all the books that your kids may have to read during class, consider reading book reviews for parents about these books. After all, once kids learn to read well, a book’s reading level is less important than whether the content inside is developmentally appropriate.

Back to School Blues
Education

Overcoming the Back to School Blues

Does your kid have the back to school blues? Discover some tips to help your kids overcome their negative feelings about returning to school.

Career

Careers After High School

Does your teens need guidance for the future? Prepare them for successful careers after high school, even when they don’t want to go to college.