Five Easy Ways to Read With Your Child

Parents often ask what’s the best way to read to their children. Before we dive into the specifics, it’s crucial to note that the focus of any reading activity should be on reading with and not to your children. Reading with them means making the experience interactive: ask them questions, point out things you notice and respond to your child’s babbles or questions! Reading together and sharing a story is very powerful. The experience strengthens the bond with your children, builds your children’s vocabulary and language skills, supports brain development, teaches life lessons through your conversations about the characters and so much more.

Reading with your children is an early-life investment that supports their growth and development for years to come. According to research by G. Kalb and J.C. van Ours, reading aloud with children increases their reading and cognitive skills up to ages 10 and 11. The minimum recommendation is to read with your children at least three to five times each week. Every day is even better, but we know that’s not always possible.

Another benefit of reading with your children is that you’ll gain a better understanding of them and how they view the world around them.  Building a conversation as you read together can provide great insights and special moments. Additionally, another study found that reading together may help curb certain behaviors like aggression, hyperactivity and difficulty with attention.

Here are five tips that will improve your time spent reading together:

1. Let your child to choose the book you will share. Allowing your child to choose supports decision-making skills and self-expression. The best way to build a love of reading is to begin with high-interest stories!
2. Interact with your little ones as you share a book together. Talk about the images, make eye contact and respond to your infant’s babbles and gestures or your child’s questions.
3. Repeat the stories over and over again. Your child will soon learn new words and build confidence by telling you the story on each page.
4. Ask your little ones to point to what they see as you read. Where is the dog? Can you find the sun in the sky? What items are blue? Engaging your child with the story builds language and cognitive skills.
5. Read rhyming stories and repeat the rhyming words together. This supports letter-sound recognition.

Pick a time of day when reading can become part of the routine. Your children will come to expect this special time, which will support their engagement and attention. These moments will benefit everyone for years to come! It’s truly magical what a few moments spent with a book can do.