Start Early to Assist with Reading Skills January 28, 2020 – Posted in: Blog

Did you know that children whose parents have read 5 books a day to them before kindergarten will have heard 1.4 million words more than ones that have never had a book read to them.  Even kids who are read only one book a day will hear about 290,000 more words by age 5 than those who don’t regularly read books with a parent or caregiver. The results of a study in Ohio State University. 

 I think this is interesting in itself without going on further with the results and findings.  I believe that no matter what the results it simply shows that reading to your kids is important for their growth.  The other side effect if you will is the communication it provides e.g. if you read a book about Polar Bears in the Antarctic, it starts conversation and questioning – Why is the bear white? How does he not get cold?, how big is the bear? Where is the mummy and daddy? And so on.  By answering these questions truthfully, you build a trust with your child.  They also learn if they want to know something they can ask you.  Even if you don’t have the answer you can always look it up together and find the information further building your relationship.

Time spent with your child in the early years can, in my opinion, stem off bigger problems in the future.  They have a relationship with you, they will ask you questions and they trust you.  The plus factor here is there is a great joy in talking to children they have wonderful imaginations and often ask or say the funniest things.  As a Grandfather I tried to get time to read to the kids as often as I could in the early years and even now my eldest grandson told one of his friends in front of me the other day “Poppy is always telling interesting stories and they always have a meaning!”  Now I didn’t always do that but they remember that I did it and they even remember the stories.   Even my daughter now, an adult and mother, can recall some of the stories I read to her as a child.  I often told them the stories from a book from my childhood and I have it ready so one day if I am alive, I can read it to my great grandkids.   

I also think it instils a great love of reading within them.  In the early years as my wife and I would finish a book that we found interesting we would pass it on to our daughter or our son and they would read it and pass it on again.  We read different genres and now they too have a broad reading interest. 

I think passing on a love of books is one of the few legacies that can be left behind.  Unfortunately, this day and age of social media and electronics is reducing that legacy.  I suggest that you spend just 10-15 minutes a day reading to your young ones starting as newborns you will be amazed how quickly they pick up your words.  For a laugh, when they are about 3, try changing the story after a couple of times and you will see they know it better than you thought. 

Well good luck and thanks again we are still writing and hope to have a new book out soon.  All the best.