When was the last time you read a story to your child? Last night? Last week? Never? No judgment here, as it is understandable.
It is common nowadays to see children- even as young as toddlers, tinkering with electronics gadgets. And it is surprising albeit disturbing to see that they’ve become experts at switching apps even before they’ve mastered the proper pencil grip.
With the demand of work today and other parental responsibilities, it is easier to hit the play button on a tablet and let the video entertain the child rather than spend time to read him an actual book.
But the convenience of electronic gadgets could have a negative impact on your child. And you don’t want that.
Here comes in a simple thing that you can include in your child’s daily routine: Story Reading.
Story Reading is an oral presentation of a story from the text of a picture book. Simply put, you read what’s on the book. Movements, sound effects and props may be used but not entirely needed.
There are many benefits of story reading to children that you simply can’t afford to pass up.
Top 5 Benefits of Story Reading to Children
1. Instill Good Values
Children simply love listening to stories. They actually like hearing what the characters have done to overcome their problems and how they have succeeded. By reading your child stories with moral lessons, you can easily inculcate good values such as honesty, responsibility, courage, and many more to your child in a matter of minutes.
2. Develop Language Skills
By simply pointing at the pictures and saying their names, your child can already add new words to his vocabulary. Whereas before, he only knows the word cat to represent a cat, now the word kitten is added. And he also knows that kitten is the word for baby cat. And all because you pointed at the picture of a cat.
3. Improves Listening Skills
Your child has to listen attentively to your story to be able to understand it well. If you do story reading regularly, your child gets to practice his listening skills regularly, too. And as time goes on, your child will learn to be more attentive so he can listen and understand the story better.
4. Boost Imagination and Creativity
After reading a story book to your child, the pictures that she has seen and the words that she has heard will then be part of her mental memory. And as she goes on with her day, you can see and hear a little bit of the stories that you’ve read. And for all we know, she has created an entire world full of characters from the stories she has heard.
5. Open New Worlds
Stories can open a whole new world to your child. One night, she is hearing about a princess who lives in a tall castle, the next she hears about a princess in a desert. The more diverse the stories you read, the more world and experiences open up to your child. This will help her to be more accepting of different cultures apart from her own.
Story reading is a simple yet effective activity that you can include in your child’s routine. It has a lot of benefits that can really help your child advance in life. So start story reading today!
Some of you may not know how to read to your child effectively. Here are tips on how to capture your child’s attention so you can maximize his read aloud experience.
Let me know what stories you love reading to your child.
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Happy learning,
14 Responses
Thank you so much for sharing this. 🙂 We actually read books but not everyday. Quite a busy mom here. But I will make it a point to do more often now. By the way, we have lots of storybooks. 😉
You really have to carve time for story read aloud. And sometimes in our busy lives, it could get really hard to squeeze this activity in. I totally understand. 🙂 Sometime it’s no short of having super powers to be able to do the things that we’re supposed to do.
Kudos to you, @journeyofthevees!
Thank you for this timely reminder. I will start reading story to my niece now 🙂
Thank you for reading, Hermione! You’re right, story reading is not a sole responsibility of parents. As adults, we are all encouraged to read to children. Happy reading!
Very concise and articulately written. A must read for young mothers and (and mitas too☺️) to help them inculcate the love for reading among kids nowadays. This will also deepen the bond between mom and their kiddos. Kudos Nina!
Thank you, Mita Ganda. Let’s promote reading to children so as not to turn it into a lost art. Happy reading! 🙂
One of the best articles about the importance of reading to children so far. Thank you for this article. Everyone should read this! 🤗
Thank you, Kendra! This topic is really close to my heart as I’ve noticed drastic changes in children who spend a lot of their free time using iPads. Though technology is the future, there is still a lot to be gained in old-fashioned story reading. 🙂 Happy reading!
Great article! Very informative. I agree that kids should not use gadgets at a young age. Reading is the best solution.
Hopefully more parents (and adults) would read to children. It would be ideal to strike a balance between technology and age-old tradition like storytelling. Thank you for reading, Kristine! 🙂
We’ll start reading tonight:)Thank you for sharing it.
Thank you, Adanna. Happy reading!
Good read! Highly recommended for parents and teachers! 😉😊
Thank you for reading. I really appreciate it. 🙂