Reading to your child has many benefits starting from helping you bond with him to his emotional and cognitive development. Find ten such excellent benefits of reading to your child that you should know about.

Reading to my little girl has been one of my most favorite activities if I think about it. Following a story read aloud by a parentis an easy cognitive activity for toddlers, allowing them to enjoy their favorite stories while enhancing their literacy skills. Every night before her bedtime, we snuggle up in a blanket, pick her favorite storybooks, and I read them to her loudly. She loves listening to them, and I often get to hear ‘again’ and ‘again’ from her until she goes to sleep.

Consistently reading to your child can be far more beneficial than you can imagine. It can help your child learn new words, improve their imagination and develop their social and cognitive skills that can go a lot way for their emotional and character building. Studies have proven that parents reading to their kids from an early age is one of the best cognitive development activities for 3 to 5 years olds. Moreover, research shows that these children can read better, write better and concentrate better later on.  

I had slowly started introducing storybooks to my daughter when she was as young as three months old. I would pick up a picture book and read it to her while breastfeeding or while rocking her. It was one of the most cherished moments that I still get to do with my little toddler.

Reading has too many long-term benefits that as a parent you should be aware of and in this blog post, I will cover the top ten benefits of reading to your kid so that you make story-time a mandatory activity in your little one’s routine.

Running out of ideas to keep your little ones engaged at home for long. Download this FREE 45 list of activities that you can do with your kids to keep them engaged for long.

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1. Increases imagination and creativity

This is one of the main reasons why I had started reading to my daughter from a very young age. Reading can help your little one think creatively and out of the box. It can hone his imagination and introduce him to new things that can help him open up his mind.

In the past few years that I have been reading to my daughter, I have noticed her form stories, name characters and often use them in her pretend playtime. Giraffe can't dance, oh the places you will go and the pout-pout fish are some of our favorite books.

2. Increases concentration

Reading is just like an acquired taste. Every kid is different, some kid might take to reading instantly and some might take some time. When my daughter became a young toddler, I noticed that she would often get restless in our reading session. She would move away or even sit on the book sometimes :). But as of today, we are easily able to read together for an hour.

Reading helps increase your little one’s concentration and you will notice that they will start to take more interest in other activities as well like arts and crafts or playtime for longer hours.

3. Help you bond with your little one

Reading before bedtime snuggled in a blanket or sitting on a sofa does help you bond better with your little one. Spending time with your little one will help you understand your little one’s emotions and attitude better and that will eventually help you bond better with him.

4. Teaches new words (better vocabulary)

Children learn new words as they read. Subconsciously, they absorb the information and letters in their mind that can help them form full sentences. Consistent reading can teach your kid how to use words and other language features effectively in their writing and speaking.

Download this FREE list of 45 activities for kids to keep them engaged for long hours. From indoor to outdoor activities, find something fun to do with your little ones.

5. Helps unwind the mind and relax 

Young kids are growing constantly and have a lot of emotions running through their minds. This can cause them to feel anxious and have troubled dreams in the night. Introducing a good reading routine before bedtime can help your little one unwind and relax his mind and in turn, it can help him sleep better.

6. Forms a healthy routine

I have noticed this from my own personal experience, that having 1-2 hours of reading time throughout the day keeps my daughter in a good mood. She is playful, not restless and also likes to play by herself for long. Reading for sometime in the day to your child can help them feel more satisfied and happy, which in turn can keep the home environment peaceful.

Related: 18 Indoor activities to do with kids when you are at home

7. Teaches to read and write better

Reading from early on can prepare young kids for school by helping them learn to read and write better.

Kids who are read too consistently are easily able to adapt to the school curriculum as they are able to understand the words and letters better and are able to form sentences using them more easily, as somewhere or the other they have heard or seen them before via storybooks.

These letters and words are there in their subconscious mind somewhere, and when they are shown to them, again and again, their mind is able to draw the references easily.

8. Helps in speech development

Haven’t you heard your little one, repeat words after you again and again? Reading does the same thing for them. When you read to your child they become familiar with the sound and the word itself and this helps them develop their speech.

9. Teaches them about the world around them

Along with increasing your little one’s imagination and creativity, reading also introduces them to the outside world. It teaches them about the people, places, things we often use and familiarize them with the many events happening around them.

10. Exercises the brain

Lastly, reading can help your child constantly think which can help him exercise his brain. Unlike just watching nursery rhymes, reading makes your little one concentrate, notice the colors and shapes in the book that helps him work his brain which in return makes them smarter.

Reading to your child has both long term as well as short term benefits. Young kids as old as one year, are able to spot the different pictures in their picture book and you will notice that they try to draw references with the things around them.

Reading will help them develop a lifelong love for books which they will cherish in their entire lifetime. Hence, no matter how old your kid is or how busy you are, start taking out a few hours in a day to read to your little one.