Photo by Andy Kuzma
Reading to a child is essential that could significantly impact their success in life as they grow up. As J.K. Rowling said, “I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book.”
Reading takes readers into a world far beyond the world that they know. As a reader, whether you’ve picked up a book that’s fiction or non-fiction, something happens to you from the moment you open those pages. You either learn something new, or you’re brought into a world of imagination, a temporary escape from reality.
The same thing happens when you read books out loud to children. There’s a magic that begins to take shape and place – the magic of storytelling.
Children’s stories, such as Little Peggy Lou’s stories for children by Ruthanne Nopson, are an example of the magic that reading books bring to children. Children’s literature takes its readers, both old and young, together on a colorful journey full of exciting plots and, most importantly, moral lessons.
Why is reading important to children?
First off, getting a child to sit still beside you while you read to them is not an easy task. Children can quickly get distracted – which is a perfectly normal reaction. But as adults or as parents, it falls upon them to make sure that they’re able to capture the kids’ attention through actively and creatively using body language and signals so that their audience would be able to receive the messages or lessons being imparted by the stories.
But why would they need to ensure that their young listeners or readers focus and pay attention? What would a child gain from parents or adults reading children’s books or stories?
Boosts Cognitive Development
Cognitive development is described as the child’s growth when it comes to their thinking and reasoning skills. This typically happens to them between ages 6 to 12 and 12 to 18. When you’re reading out loud to your kid, you somehow stimulate that part of their brain function that touches on their critical thinking skills. You made them think and come up with scenarios of the stories set in the book. You encourage them to come up with solutions to challenging problems and trigger that curiosity to rise to the occasion when they’re asked a question.
Enhances Language and Vocabulary Skills
One of the best benefits that come with reading books to children is being able to help them improve their literacy. Reading books out loud is one strategy used in schools whenever teachers want their students to learn about a new word – how it’s pronounced and its definition. By reading stories to your young listeners and readers, you help improve their literacy by introducing them to new words or vocabulary. You also appropriately engaged them to use words in certain situations and how to react with the correct phrase or language.
Special Bonding Time
Since reading with your kids is an interactive method, it helps develop this special bond that can be intimate and emotional for both of you. This is one of the benefits reading time brings to the reader and its audience. If you consistently stay on top of reading and regularly do this with your child, this will be an opportunity for you to forge a stronger relationship.
Reading books also provide an opportunity to learn from each other. You’d be able to observe more about how your child reacts or feels to different story plots, and you’d be given an idea or a glimpse into the potential adult they’d grown up to become someday.
Develop Empathy Skills
Children’s books often contain moral lessons weaved through the story’s plots and characters’ lives. These stories offer the opportunity for young readers to put themselves in the books’ characters’ shoes, feel what they feel, and see everything through different eyes – an approach known as empathy.
Honing empathetic skills is essential for young children to grow up to be thoughtful, considerate, and compassionate towards others.
Sparks Imagination
Imagination is the beginning of a goal or a vision. This is the critical thing that influences how a person thinks, feels, or acts. And imagination is essential to critical thinking and developing theories and inventions.
Imagination starts with “what ifs” in life. This mental activity is significant and vital in developing children’s social, emotional, linguistic, and cognitive functions. Studies show that children who activate their imaginations tend to build higher activity in the area of the brain that’s responsible for mental images and comprehending verbal cues. The more kids are inspired to imagine because of books, the more they become curious learners and fond of reading. Plus, it becomes easier for them to visualize characters, gain new perspectives, and build and expand new knowledge.
The Magic of Reading
Something magical from the moment the pages of a children’s book are opened up to the last, where the reader and the young listener interact. That magical thing is remarkable, worthwhile, and worth keeping. Their story and bonding go beyond books and are something that they could take with them throughout their life.
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