Reading Books To Your Children

As a Librarian, and someone who spent many years working in children's departments I can agree wholeheartedly with this article. Reading to children is an incredibly important part of developing their literacy skills. It teaches children the rhythm of speech, the use of language and the joy that sharing stories can bring. Reading to children can be something that is a part of the daily routine, eg bedtime, but don't just read at these times, keep a couple of books in the car/pram/nappy bag & if you are stuck waiting somewhere, needing a distraction or just wanting some pleasant time together pull out the books.

Whilst reading to your children is important, it is also important to spend time sharing nursery rhymes. These are a great way of developing literacy and language skills. They went out of favour a few years ago, especially with the rise of political correctness, but if you have ever played "This little piggy" with your baby you will know that children don't care about political correctness, they care about the attention you are giving them.

Use your local public library. They are a free service, and often have classes for parents on sharing books with your babies, as well as storytimes, holiday activities and of course the option to borrow library materials.

my son loves me reading him books, every day he will bring me a book, and ill read it to him, then i say to him, get me another book, and he will. so cute.

I'm not due until around June, but I'm already looking for books to read to my child when he or she is born.  My mother read to me every single night when I was a child, and it gave me a huge head start.  Many of my classmates in early grade school had never had much experience with reading.  I can't imagine not giving my own child the chance to begin reading as young as I did.  It truly does open doors, and it's a crucial life skill as well.

my children love us to read stoires to them, they often grab one finger and get us to point to the picture.

It's good to hear that being able to read more to them as much as you can can really help them in many ways.

Thanks for the advice.

I am still amazed at the number of people who do not read to their children. My husband & I have been reading to our daughter since she was newborn,although  we have been ridiculed for this by some people I have to say.

She loves books, respects them & treats them well unlike some kids I know who use them for ripping & scribbling practice.

For a friends child's 2nd birthday I gave her a set of books & the mum said " they'll be great just as soon as she learns to read" I was left feeling sad for the kid & sad at the shortsightedness of her mum.

By the time a child gets to kindy you can really tell the ones who have been read to & they are so far ahead of the ones who haven't had this experience. I can't help but wonder why a parent would choose to put their child at such a disadvantage for the sake of a few minutes of their time.

I have a book by Mem Fox about the importance of reading to your child & I refer to it often.

Thanks for the great advice, I love reading to my son and have always done this from about 2mths.  We go to the library every 3 weeks and H love it.

i agree with this i have 5 children and by my reading to them all as young children it incouraged them to develop a love for books they read to them selves and to each other almost every night and its not a chore they just like to do it

totally agree. we have a wide range of books for our 3 children they love to read we read to them aswell

Books where would we be without them? Before t.v before radio and computers there were books. They gave us the ability to imagine and go anywhere and be whoever we wanted to be. That alone opened a whole world for us and led the science fiction to become reality. I love to read and let my mind take me to another world where anything is possiable. My mum read to me when I was a child and I love to do the same for my kids whenever I can. If I can give them the appreciation that I have books all by just reading to them then why not. Not to mention all the benifits of doing so.

my children love reading books. i read to them every night before bed and sometimes during the day. my 13 month old loves pointing at pictures of babies and animals and her favourite is dora. my 4 year old isnt as interested in books as her sisters. my 5 year old is always asking me to read books to her. reading to my children helped to get them into a sleep routine and has also helped them to learn simple words and objects.  its such an enjoyable experience to sit down after a long hard day and read a book. it helps them to improve there imaginations.

My husband and I read to our son in NICU because we couldnt hold him for 2 weeks and now the bond between us is amazing

My children love reading,it's make them more clever.And i love to read to my baby of 10months and he enjoys it.

I read to all my children and my eldest now reads to her younger siblings. Great advice.

 Excellent advice  I always read to my children it was our special time together.

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers Janice

My son loves reading time and I hope he always will

This really does help children with getting started reading and it is simple i have 4 children and they all picked up reading pretty easy and it is deffinately because we always sat down and read books together it helps them familiarise them to the words .

what great advice! i've been trying this and its awesome. thankyou very much

This is great advice! Thanks for saying what type of books for what ages as it helps when wondering which type of books to get my dadughter.

It's really awesome to read books with my baby boy. The first time I tried it, he was really listening. I'm planning to widen his senses by listening to sounds and words so I'm expanding his library of books.

Before my daughter was born, i started reading to her- and she adores reading and writing her own stories.   With my son...i was a little shorter on time but still made sure i read to him everyday, and i can't wait to see how he goes with his stories and reading when he starts school next year.  My youngest however, now that I'm on my own- and am very time poor, I'm sad to say I don't always get as much one on one time with him to read a story, but we usually manage a quick look at a book before bed at night.  I am interested to see how this will effect his reading and stories at school when the time comes.

We've been reading to our 18 mos. old son since he was a newborn and he loves his books.  We've found that he loves books that have simple actions in them that he can perforn (reach way up high, touch your toes, etc.).  It's a great way for him to increase hislanguage skills, and for us to enjoy time together!

my husband david and i have been reading to our son jack from very early on and now that he is a "big boy" he adores reading. he will read anything that he can get his hands on - within reason of course and we definitely don't have unsuitable material around.

Hi there, i myself am a bookworm - a trait that i have passed on to my younger son (18 mnths).  He has many books - picture books, short stories and some long stories (i recently read to him over a week the original Alice In Wonderland).  He loves them all, and quite often everyday will have a book in his hand.  My older son (3 yrs) on the other hand has no patience listening to a story.  With him, i have found books that directly appeal to his interests eg.  he LOVES sharks - so i got him a junior grade book about different sharks - and he loves it.  Now my boys during "quiet time" can sit down together and enjoy their respective books.  Reading is important for all kids - any advice on how to encourage it should be taken in by all parents.

cheers!!!!

HI, great start, don't forget magazines, especially ones you've read. Pop bub on the floor with said mags, grab your new,unread one and a cuppa- ahhh bliss. This way torn pages are not a problem and they start to get the idea of quiet-time. Happy days, Noelray.

Great advice ellamia. As a teacher I regularly see where books have been valued and good role modelling has taken place. Bedtime stories are a fantastic way of instilling a love of books and are a wonderful time of bonding for parents and their children. Console games are great fun but it's hard to play the Wii with a toddler on your lap.

N has just turned 1 and seems to be on the way to becoming a real little bookworm!  We read to him in the womb -  alternating between three books and any one of these stories used to instantly make him clamer when he was littler!  Now often I will find him sitting on the floor flipping through a book (usually upside down and back to front).  I think it is so important to read to your children and this piece of advice provides a good foundation to understanding where to start.   I especially like the section on reading to children - all of it is commonsense but like most things often if its not explicitly pointed out its easy to not consider it!  Happy reading everyone!

I loved reading this.  We did all these things, and E loves reading - to the point I have blogged and bragged ().  Reading bring me such joy personally and it is wonderful that I am seeing it bring E joy too.  She even has a spot on her bed where she keeps her 'current reading book' because that is what my mother and I do.  Anyone see a trend here ... lol

Peace
EF.x

good advise sweetie!! I always read to Myah and now she pretends to read to herself pointing to the pictures and all...LOL

na xxxxxxx

Great advise! Well done and enjoyed reading it.

Tee

I've always allowed my son access to all his books since he was a baby. I have chewed up books to show for it. But no matter... he is now 3 years 4 months and loves books! We read to him and he always asks for "5 more minutes" all the time. So now we've allowed him to 'read' his books by himself in bed with his flashlight. He falls asleep with his books all over the bed.

Great advice I have been reading tohannah since she was in my tummy, i try to make this a special time now I try reading to her during the day and before she goes to bed she use to try and eat the book but she has more understanding now i think.

Thanks lisam

Great Advice Kelly!  I think reading is a wonderful way to spend time with your child.  One of Harrison's favourite books is one I got him as a tiny 3 month old baby.  He loves it, althought he has loved it a little too much and the cover has come off.

Thanks-Angela

excellent article! i was told to read to mackinnley even while pregnant, and that it doesn't matter waht you read at first (with in reason) but just that you take the time to read with them. they will love it. reading to your kids teaches them a number of things for example vocabulary, lessons, etc. anyway great article as always, keep up the good work!

love jade