Reading to your Kids Helps them Love Reading Later

I Googled "read to your kids" the other day, and was surprised at the amount of advice to parents about why when and where to read to children. Reading to children young and old, but especially when they are young, is widely seen as the single most important thing you can do to help your child develop a love of reading.

Reading to Them Fosters a Love of Reading

Clearly, the idea of reading to one’s kids is not new. It is also not a radical idea—if a child can experience the joy and excitement of a story coming from a parent reading, it is only natural that they will want to copy the parent and read it themselves. Often, our tutors will spend time reading with younger students, to help their comprehension skills.

Many Benefits After They Learn to Read On Their Own

But even after a child learns to read, it is advantageous to read to them. Children can be exposed to books that are more difficult than their reading level, and they can further their joy of experiencing new stories through reading.

Tips to Help Your Child Grow to Love Reading

Several tips I gleaned from a page entitled “How to Instill a Love of Reading in Your Children” seemed like good advice:

1. Read to your children (even teens like it!)
2. Set up daily reading times
3. Visit the library often
4. Avoid book reports (except when required by school)
5. Keep books in the car and bathroom
6. Allow kids to read easy books too

Source: “How to Instill a Love of Reading in Your Children, Beverly Hernandez, www.about.com