The Importance of Reading
February 20, 2012 in babies, Back to School, Books, family, fatherhood, Fun with the Kids, homeschool, Kids, Lil Bit of Everything, Motherhood, parenthood, Parenting, preschool, toddler, tween
Reading is the foundation of a balanced, educated and enriched life. Reading educates and it can take you to fantasy worlds you would never dream of in this universe. Reading lets your mind interpret its own images of lively characters and colourful backdrops. And improving a mind through reading can begin even before a child is born. Many professionals today are convinced that there is a level of awareness and consciousness in a baby while still in the mother’s womb and that there is a degree of learning that is taking place even in this early stage of life. They strongly encourage parents to talk to the baby, and to read and play soothing music.
It is no mystery that children who are read to right from the beginning of their birth and before, do better in school. They have the greater advantage in language and literacy skills over children whose parents don’t read to them or encourage them to read books. And studies also show that the style of reading that parents do with their children can have a significant impact as well. One study showed that Middle Class parents, as opposed to working class parents, who read to their children, used a more interactive style, eliciting discussion and impressions instead of just describing their own feelings about what was read and seen. As a matter of fact the study indicated that it was not even so much as the frequency of reading, but this style, that had the greater impact on language and literacy development, and had lasting effects throughout a person’s life. This certain style of reading helps the children make connections to their own real world and experiences within it. New words are explained and discussed along with the characters and their motivations for their actions. Reading and teaching your children to read and create their own impressions is a vital component to the learning process and giving your children the tools to think independently.
Another study also indicated strongly that, children who are read to from the beginning have fewer behavioural issues as well. This same study concluded that, reading to children every day, or the lack of it, is positively associated with all cognitive outcomes in a child’s life regarding their behaviour, and that children who habitually watched 3 or more hours of television a day achieved lower scores on tests done for the study.
More and more schools, libraries, parenting groups etc. are putting emphasis on this importance of reading for pre-school age children, and programs are being developed to help more disadvantaged children in their reading skills. Many of these programs are targeted at lower income families where reading is often absent from the rearing process. This will improve their chances at succeeding in school and thus continued education and better jobs later in life, evening the playing field so to speak and hopefully breaking the detrimental cycle for these children.
Waiting until school age to teach children to read is no longer the acceptable norm. It’s a mistake which for the most part studies show is not likely to be rectified. It has been proven that the first few years of life are the most crucial to establish life long learning habits, and that those children who aren’t read to early or taught to read have less chance of achieving higher education, leading to difficulty in entering the highly competitive job market of today.
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