READ TO YOUR KIDS!
Nobody said parenting was going to be easy.
I don’t know about you guys, but I LOVE reading to my kids. I will admit. At first. I….didn’t truly love it. The crazy thing was, I was concerned with my own “reading aloud skills.”
Are you serious?? I was worried about how fluidly and entertainingly I was going to read to my kids…ridiculous.
Now-a-days…I can’t get enough. If I’m being completely honest, my 18 month old son has the attention span of a Fruit Fly. So, he doesn’t last very long. But, I give it the old “college try.
Reading to your kids is so incredibly important for their development that sometimes, you just gotta “suck it up” and DO IT.
Reading to your kids is proven to improve the process of cognitive development. Cognitive development is the emergence of the ability to think and understand; it’s “the construction of thought processes, including remembering, problem solving, and decision-making, from childhood through adolescence to adulthood” (HealthofChildren.com). It refers to how a person perceives and thinks about his or her world through areas such as information processing, intelligence, reasoning, language development, and memory. In other words – it’s our kids’ vision of the world around them and their place in it.
Let’s talk about the Brain. How freaking cool is the human brain. Unbelievable. Well, when we read to our kids, research has shown that we are actually “turning on” brain cells. And, those that are already turned on are strengthened.
Often it is the “talk around” the reading that helps to enhance cognitive development. When I come to a word that my daughter may not know, we will talk about the word. Give a definition and an example. It’s amazing how she remembers and uses the word later on.
The Million Word Gap
You really want to set your kids up for success? Read them 5 books a day!
Kids who are read five books a day from birth will begin kindergarten having heard about 1.4 million more words than kids who were never read to, according to a new study published in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.
“Kids who hear more vocabulary words are going to be better prepared to see those words in print when they enter school,” said Jessica Logan, lead author of the study and assistant professor of educational studies at The Ohio State University. “They are likely to pick up reading skills more quickly and easily.”
And every little bit counts. Even kids who are read only one book a day will hear about 290,000 more words by age 5 than those who don’t regularly read books with a parent or caregiver.
Often it is the “talk around” the reading that helps to enhance cognitive development.
The Importance of Reading
Studies show that reading for pleasure makes a big difference to children’s educational performance. Likewise, evidence suggests that children who read for enjoyment every day not only perform better in reading tests than those who do not, but also develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a better understanding of other cultures.
In fact, reading for pleasure is more likely to determine whether a child does well at school than their social or economic background. That means ANY KID can do better in school be developing the joy of reading.
Now, I know as Dads, we often neglect our own reading. I can tell you that just about every time I lay down to read (which I most often do before going to bed) I last about a page and a half before the eyelids take on the weight of osmium. But, the benefits can be immeasurable. Not to mention if I am reading a Vince Flynn book, I have dreams of being a kick-ass special agent!
Any way you look at it, reading to our kids has a boundless effect on them. Not only do we create more of a bond with them (which is incredibly important) but we are also helping to pave the road to their futures!