Why is reading to children important and how to start?

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Reading to your baby plays an important role in nurturing young children, helping them develop thinking, language skills and rich imagination. So how to start reading stories to children?

1. Why is it important to read stories to children?

Reading stories to children is not only an opportunity for children to have fun, but also to learn. Reading to your baby is important because reading to your baby has many undeniable benefits.
1.1. How does reading stories to children help with emotional bonding? Reading to your baby is a great opportunity for parents, grandparents, family adults, and children to spend time together, have time to bond, and slow down during a busy day.
A study from 2008 showed that reading stories to children can support a stronger parent-child relationship. The reason is because children feel safe when their parents read to them. In addition, caregivers who have a positive attitude toward books and read to children help children view reading in a positive light.
1.2. Can reading stories to children help children practice listening skills? Experts at Scholastic explain that listening is a skill children need before they can read on their own. Reading stories to children will be very helpful in training the ability to grasp information, feel emotions through the voice, thereby improving listening skills.
1.3. Does reading stories to children help with cognitive and language development? Even from a very young age, children benefit from having a caregiver read to them. A 2013 study found that babies who were read to stories scored better in subjects related to language skills, cognitive development, and problem solving.
Research from 2018 shows a link between reading stories to children from infancy to age 14 and promoting language abilities and higher IQ.
1.4. Why reading stories to children helps children expand their vocabulary? Experts from the National Center for Early Childhood Education and Development also say reading to children helps to expand the number and variety of words children use. A 2019 study estimated that children who were regularly read to children's stories in the five years before kindergarten were exposed to about 1.4 million more words than children who were not read during those years.

1.5. How is reading stories to children helpful in training concentration? Dinah Castro, an educator with the Cornell Collaborative Expansion, says reading stories to children helps them develop concentration skills and self-discipline.
At first, a nervous toddler loses focus on story time, but over time, regular reading helps children look forward to and gradually more focused when it is time to listen to stories.
When children are listening, children will sit still, through reading stories to children, their attention time develops longer and even practice their budding memory retention skills.
1.6. Can creativity develop through reading stories to children? Children are full of vivid imaginations, reading to them helps spark and promote their creativity. Books and stories open up a whole new world, for example, there are many fictional books about dinosaurs, bugs and airplanes. Fiction stories go beyond the real world and use fantasy elements that motivate children to think unconventionally. Therefore, reading stories to children is a way to develop creativity in children. Education experts say that creativity is important for developing interests and ideas, as well as for fostering children's emotional health.
1.7. Is reading stories to children a way to teach children life lessons? Reading stories to children is a way of talking about real-world situations in age-appropriate ways. Reading to your child books that introduce their peers to what they do in everyday life helps children see themselves and receive life lessons.
1.8. Can reading children's stories develop social skills and nurture emotions? Educator Castro also says that reading stories to children teaches them how to deal with stressful experiences, learning how to deal with difficulties in everyday life. In addition, by modeling what happens every day, reading stories to children can help children not feel alone in the face of difficulties and changes they face such as tooth extraction, moving school,...

2. How to start reading stories to children?

Reading stories to children should start today. Babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and even older children all benefit from having a caregiver read to them.
2.1. How to start reading stories to preschool children? For children under 6 months old, reading stories to children should start from books with simple but colorful and bright pictures. As babies get a little older (between 7 and 12 months old), reading to your baby can extend to books with simple phrases or a line of text related to the pictures on the page.
Children aged 12 to 18 months can find it interesting to read to them books with pictures of other children doing everyday things, books with animals, cartoon characters or scenes familiar in life. In this age group, reading stories to children can be done with simple stories, with the course of events, with more detailed pictures
When the child begins to speak or is already able to speak, Try interacting with your baby while reading to your baby. For example, point to a picture and ask "What's that?" or "Oh, that's a banana!" to get your baby to interact with the book. Be positive and try to interact with your child, for example if he answers “cat” you can support “Yes, it looks like a cat, but it really is a squirrel!”.

2.2. How to choose books to read to school children? When children go to kindergarten, along with reading stories to children, help them memorize nursery rhymes to practice their ability to absorb and remember. When your baby begins to read on his own, you can let him read instead of reading stories to children. Asking questions to test your child's understanding such as "What do you think might happen next?" instead of simple questions like "What color are the leaves in the picture?" It will give your child the opportunity to think and explore the story more deeply.
Do not stop reading to your baby after he can read to himself. While independent reading is certainly important, reading to children is still beneficial both academically and emotionally.

3. How to be successful in reading stories to children?

Here are some of the factors that contribute to successful reading to children:
Making time to read to children: Making time to read to your baby sounds simple, but it is First and foremost really need to do. Make reading to your baby a daily maintenance activity and give your attention focused, unaffected by other things. Be consistent: Try to make reading to your baby a regular part of your routine. Children love hearing the same stories over and over and they learn through repetition so there's no need to worry about not finding different books. Create joyful experiences: Use different voices for different characters, create pauses, incorporate songs, or add other dramatic elements to bring the story to life in when reading stories to children. These activities not only make reading to your baby interesting, but also help them better understand the story. Help children connect with stories: Children are more interested in applying stories to their own lives. Not only does this make the story more meaningful, but it can also help children cope with different situations they encounter in their daily lives. Therefore, while reading stories to children, it is possible to direct the child's thoughts to associate and connect the story to the children themselves. Interaction while reading stories to children: In addition to reading, the interaction between parents and children during reading to children will help learn and develop children's thoughts. Please regularly visit Vinmec.com website and update useful information to take care of your baby and family.

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Reference sources: healthline.com, webmd.com