Years ago a lady I worked with who had two little girls told me about a wonderful product she'd found that would "read" to her children. It was a tape recording of someone reading; basically what we would now call an audio book. I said something like "Well that's great, for when you can't read to them." She said "Oh no, you don't understand, now I don't need to read to them." I was so taken aback I couldn't think what to say.
Reading is super important. That's not a new idea. You can see lots of reasons why here and here.
"Reading aloud to kids has clear cognitive benefits. For example, brain scans show that hearing stories strengthens the part of the brain associated with visual imagery, story comprehension, and word meaning. One study found that kindergarten children who were read to at least three times a week had a “significantly greater phonemic awareness than did children who were read to less often.” And the landmark Becoming a Nation of Readers report from 1985 concluded that “the single most important activity for building knowledge for their eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.”
But reading also strengthens children’s social, emotional, and character development. According to a recently published study, reading to very young children is linked to decreased levels of aggression, hyperactivity, and attention difficulties. The study’s lead author shared this insight with The New York Times, “When parents read with their children more . . . they learn to use words to describe feelings that are otherwise difficult and this enables them to better control their behavior when they have challenging feelings like anger or sadness.”
A friend of my mother's, Caroline, raised three children, and her husband read to their children every night after dinner, for many years. I think he continued that right up until the youngest went away to college. The kids didn't watch TV after dinner. Their daddy read books appropriate to their age level and maybe a little bit beyond. All three kids were honors students and I think 2 of them went on to get master's degrees.
I have a lot of happy memories of my parents and grandparents reading to me.
Clearly, reading is good for children. I wanted to throw in a few personal anecdotes, though.
My grandfather Papa Hasty loved to read children's classics to me like Heidi and Swiss Family Robinson, and I also loved a big book of old Testament stories illustrated for children. Snuggling up against him while he read to me entertained me and made me feel safe and loved. He had infinite patience and would stop and explain anything I didn't understand. My father was sort of like the energizer bunny, always running around and rarely sitting still for long, but Papa always had time to read to me. (Dad always told me bedtime stories, though.)
In third grade I had a really hard year. We moved from Augusta Georgia to Knoxville Tennessee which was really stressful for me. We didn't know anyone in Knoxville. Some of the kids said I "talked funny." One good thing that happened was that the school tested me and put me into the gifted third grade class and the teacher, Mrs. Kidder, was wonderful. Every day after lunch she would read a chapter to us from a children's classic. She introduced me to EB White (Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little) and Beverly Cleary (Ramona the Pest, The Mouse and the Motorcycle). I loved that reading time.
When I brought my son home he was 10 years old, and reading was a challenge. He was reading way ahead of grade level in Kazakstan, his birth country. He learned English pretty quickly after he got here in 2007. About 2 years after he got here, though, his reading comprehension scores were not where they should have been. It concerned me.
A cousin of mine who was a kindergarten teacher heard about the reading issue and sent me a wonderful gift: the first three Harry Potter books. I told Michael I was going to start reading to him every night right before bedtime, for thirty minutes. He was not enthusiastic about the idea.
The first night he fussed a bit but then settled down and we read the required time. He sat right next to me and followed along on the page. The next night he was totally cooperative. It became something we both looked forward to every evening.
We read all the Harry Potter books. He cried when we finished the last one. I tried to comfort him and I said "Maybe Ms. Rowling will write some other books you'll like." He said "Wait. You mean JK Rowling is a GIRL?!" I said well, yes. He was flabbergasted.
We went on to read a lot more books, even continuing into his high school years. Often we would read together on weekends, after school, or whenever he was bored. I loved all the books we read, particularly a series by an Irish writer, Michael Scott, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel book series. He combines historical figures with fictional characters in a fascinating way.
Even in this high-tech world, books can be a magical way of connecting with a child. Besides being good for their brains and emotional lives, reading can be really fun for you, the adult.
The Lesson for Today: read to your children and grandchildren! You won't regret it.
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