Reasons Why Reading to Your Children Is So Important



Posted: Saturday, April 05, 2008

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I come from a family of readers. My grandmother Anna loved to read, in particular, romance and mystery novels. I spent many an afternoon with her, sitting in her living room, reading Mary Stewart and Phyllis Whitney books. My mother, Evelyn, loves to read and always has a book at hand. Mom read to me and my brothers and sisters when we were young and I learned to read from her before I went to school. Thanks to Mom, my siblings and I have loved to read all of our lives and often spend happy times together discussing the books that we have read. To this day, I have a passion for the power and the magic of the written word that I believe was instilled in me because of the example given to me by my grandmother, mother and older siblings.

Of course, I have tried to pass on this love for books to my own two children. When they were small, I read to them a bedtime story every night. My daughter, Caitlin loved fairy tales, especially stories about princesses like Belle, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. My son, John enjoyed Mercer Meyer's Little Critter books and the adventures of the Berenstein Bears. Both of my children share with me a fascination for one of the all time great (in my opinion) literary heroines, Alice of Wonderland fame. Today, reading is a favorite pastime for both of my kids, one I know will remain with them all their lives.

As many an educator will tell you, reading to your children when they are young is very important. Statistically, children who are read to have a better chance at achieving success later in life. Below are ten reasons why reading to your children will help improve their chances at becoming a success and their quality of life.

1. Reading to your children provides them with a lasting reading role model.

2. Research evidence show that a parent's involvement with their children by reading to them is more important then anything else in helping them realize their full potential.

3. By reading to your children, you increase the probability that they will stay in school.

4. Children who are read to at an early age have an increased vocabulary and are more capable of coping with the demands of educational literary training.

5. Reading to your children stimulates their imagination, their emotional development and increases their confidence and self-esteem.

6. Reading activities increase children's knowledge of other areas and gives them a better background for academic success.

7. Reading to and with your child helps to build a strong, lasting relationship with them.

8. A child who has been read to has an increased probability of future employment.

9. Reading increases a child's attention span.

10. Reading provides entertainment and a valuable alternative to television.

Have the above given reasons proven themselves in the case of my own children? Bragging intended my children have achieved academic success. My fifteen year-old daughter who attends a local prep school has, as she always does, achieved first honors in her current marking period, bringing home two B+'s and four A's. As for my son, who is graduating this year from his own prep school, John has just been admitted to a top Ivy League university on a substantial scholarship. Do I think that the fact they were read to when they were young was an important reason behind their academic success? You had better believe it!

Rosanne O'Malley is passionate about books and could talk about them all day long. To find a good book to read, one that Rosanne might recommend, visit www.agoodbook.zlio.net. Feel free to leave your own comments and recommendations.
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