The Importance Of Reading To Infants And Toddlers

Reading to young children is one of the most important things parents can do for them. Of course, this is in addition to providing them with food, clothing and lots of love. The reason that reading to children is so important is because it has been shown that children are read to when they're young, on a consistent basis, are more likely to do better in school. That is the big picture of why reading to your children is important, but there are many other benefits that come from it as well.

While it isn't necessary to try and read to a newborn baby, it is necessary that you begin introducing your little one to books when they are fairly young, probably around three months or so. There are plenty of ways to do this as you can find many cloth books, books with different textured pages and now there are even little books that hold family pictures. When your infant is three months old, introducing her to what a book looks like is a great thing to do - even if she is just chewing on it.

Once your infant reaches about six months of age, you can start to introduce him to board books with brightly illustrated objects. Even though you aren't actually reading yet, it is important because your little one will begin to understand what these different objects are as you point to them and say the name of the object. Of course, this takes repetition but you'll be amazed at how much your infant will learn from this.

Children ages one to three have the ability to learn a lot from the books parents read to them. While your toddler probably won't sit still for an entire book, he will still enjoy looking through the pages and listening to you read to him. Not only will children learn what different objects are but they will learn what different words mean and increase their vocabulary immensely. Even if you are only able to sit down with your toddler for 15 minutes a day and look through a book with him that will do a lot to help him.

Another great thing that comes from reading a little each day to young children is that you are helping them increase their attention span. Toddlers are full of energy and need to learn how to sit still and concentrate to help prepare them for preschool and kindergarten. Having a set reading time every day helps do this. Reading will also expand your child's world by tapping into his imagination.

Finally, reading to children introduces them to the written word. As adults, we know that for the rest of our children's lives they will have to read. Therefore, we need to make this easier on them by familiarizing them with written words when they are young. Reading to your young children a little every day will help instill a love for reading at an early age, which is very important for their future life endeavors.


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Mommies Magazine offers you additional tips to getting the most benefit from reading to children