A reader lives a thousand lives – help your kids become smarter

One thing we loved most as children, was cuddling up with our parents when bedtime came and losing ourselves in the magical world of stories. In today’s advanced digital era, parents often don’t read to their young children anymore.

A study was made in Rhode Island Hospital to compare two groups of eight-month-old children – one group was read to often as babies, while the other was not. It was shown that those who were read to, have their “receptive” vocabularies (number of words they understand) increased 40% since babyhood, while the non-reading group increased by only 16%. Quite shocking, isn’t it?

If the above isn’t enough reason for you to stash away the technology to help your kids become smarter, here are a few other benefits that might tickle your fancy and strengthen that all-important bond.

* It calms your child, especially when he/she is fretful and restless and struggles to sleep.

* It promotes increased communication between you and your child. Nothing like a story as a conversation starter.

* Preschool children who are exposed to language by hearing words that are read to them and in conversation tend to do well in school. This has been proven by the study mentioned earlier.

* Many studies show that students who love learning and do well in school were exposed to reading before preschool.

* It promotes longer attention span, which is an important skill for children to be able to concentrate. Reading might also eliminate a lot of medication that young children are exposed to that help them concentrate.

* It builds listening skills and imagination and nothing is a more powerful tool than that!

* Children get the opportunity to learn about colours, shapes, number and letters, as well as their general knowledge on underlying topics and life-lessons.

The most successful people in the world are voracious readers. Moreover, it is the path to lifelong learning. Helping your child to love reading is one of the most important things you can do as a parent – and it will be worth your time and energy.