Do you get frustrated while reading aloud with your toddler? You pick out the perfect book. You get your child all comfortable on your lap. After one, maybe two, pages your little one tries to eat the book, hops off your lap and starts playing with a different toy, starts climbing all over you and in general seems completely uninterested in the story you are reading?
Don’t get discouraged.
Don’t stop reading.
This is all completely normal.
Your child is still listening and learning.
Reading with your child, young or old, on a daily basis is one of the best ways to ensure your child’s future success in school and later in life. Here are 10 reasons why:
1. Eighty percent of a child’s brain is developed by the time s/he is three years old. Reading to young children stimulates brain development, improves listening skills and builds vocabulary.
2. Toddlers learn that there is a front and a back to the book. They also learn how to hold a book and how to turn its pages.
3. Reading nursery rhymes and singing songs spark children’s awareness of language and sounds.
4. Reading alphabet books helps your child isolate letters in a stream of print. This helps them understand the concept that printed words include letters.
5. Pointing out objects in the pictures and asking questions like, “What do you think will happen next?” or “I see a cow and a horse. They are both animals. Can you think of another animal?” help children build problem solving skills, predict outcomes, learn cause and effect and classify objects.
6. Re-reading the same book over and over and over again (even when your child is playing) is actually useful for toddlers as it helps them relate what s/he hears to the words and letters on the page.
7. Children whose families read together enter kindergarten with stronger language skills, which makes them more likely to succeed throughout their school years.
8. Reading opens the door of communication between the two of you. Reading together allows you to learn about things that interest your child, things that make them laugh or things that may scare them.
9. Shared book reading creates an opportunity for quality time with your children. Your children love to spend time with you and reading together is a great way to give them attention.
10. Reading together encourages your children to read on their own and enjoy doing so. Children of school age who read every day for pleasure perform better on tests than their peers who do not.
The most important thing to remember is that reading is fun. It doesn’t need to feel like teaching or learning, just playing. It’s amazing the knowledge that children absorb when given the opportunity to hear words, stories and songs over and over again.
So the next time you find yourself a human jungle gym on page two of the Very Hungry Caterpillar, launch into “If You’re Happy and You Know It” to burn off some energy and continue raising awareness of language and sounds.
What are some of your favorite books to read aloud to children under five?
*Resource for information: Starting Out Right, National Research Council, 1999
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