Benefits of reading to children

Reading to children

There are many benefits of reading to children. It is essential in the children's early life, as helps them build many skills and teaches them about the outer world, and opens up new doors for them.

Why Reading Aloud to Kids Helps Them Thrive?

Reading aloud is really important, especially when memorizing new information. You should teach your kids to read aloud, this will help them build many skills and make them learn new vocabulary. Let them read aloud and discuss with them what they read this will enhance their conversational skills, and encourage social-emotional learning, and empathy. Reading aloud is not just important for kids, adults need to read aloud to enhance social-emotional learning, and learn and memorize new information.

Benefits of reading aloud to children

• Increases attention spans.
• Makes information easier to remember and recall.
• Is effective for vocabulary development.
• Develops empathy.
• Helps children stay connected emotionally with their friends and others.
• Reading aloud every day is the single most important thing you can do to prepare your child to learn.

Why should you make your child a reading lover?

Reading is great for many things, it improves memory, and focus, helps you gain knowledge, and builds creative thinking skills, not just that there are much more and we will discuss some of them now. Besides all the benefits that reading gives, you will also have fun and enjoy your time.

1-   Reading Expands the Mind:

The first thing that you will notice when you start reading is the knowledge you gain and the creative ideas that pop up in your mind. Reading will keep your brain active and creative. There are studies showing that reading can prevent Alzheimer’s disease and keep the mind healthy and young.  

2-   Creative Thinking:

Reading increases your creative thinking skills. When you read, you will start to imagine the events of the story, feel like you are there, and immerse yourself in the actions. You won’t feel bored when reading.  

3- Reading Improve Concentration:

Reading helps you focus and train your mind to concentrate, so if you have concentration problems then you should start reading right now. When reading you have only one thing to focus on, and that’s is something we don’t do a lot nowadays because of the many things that require us to be multi-tasking. Being focused helps you finish more work faster and successfully, this includes studying to, you will be able to concentrate for a long time hence studying in fewer hours.  

4- Gain Valuable Knowledge:

That is one benefit that everyone knows. Reading daily increases our knowledge; you will learn new words, and gain knowledge about the world, history, or whatever you want to learn about. The author Roald Dahl said, "If you are going to get anywhere in life, you have to read a lot of books." One day someone asked Elon Musk how did he learn to build rockets and his answer was: "I read books."

5- Exercise Your Brain:

The English writer Joseph Addison once said about the importance of reading "Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body." There are many studies that prove the importance of reading to the mind, once says that a complex network of circuits and signals in the brain is stimulated the brain. That’s not all, it also becomes stronger with time. There was another study was conducted on a group of participants who were constructed to read a novel while measuring their brain activity. They found that when the tension of the novel increased so did the brain as more areas got activated. That’s not all; there were also huge enhancements in the brain connectivity even after reading for days. Your brain is just like your muscles if you don’t use them they will become useless. What does that mean? If you don’t exercise your brain every day you might lose your cognitive abilities. So reading is the exercise your brain needs.

6- Improve Your Focus:

In order to succeed in our lives being able to focus for a long time is essential, Cal Newport the author wrote: "To remain valuable in our economy … you must master the art of quickly learning complicated things. This task requires deep work." Newport explained deep work as: "Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. It's a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time. Deep work will make you better at what you do and provide the sense of true fulfillment that comes from craftsmanship." He said that due to multi-tasking having this skill is really rare. Also, Microsoft conducted a study proving that people lose their focus after eight seconds. That’s why reading is important; it gives you one thing to focus on. To immerse yourself in the novel you’re reading you have to give it your full attention, even if you are reading a non-fictional book, to understand it you need to focus.

7-  improve the memory:

not being able to remember is really bad, and reading fixes this problem. When you read a non-fictional book you feed your brain with much information that you need to remember. The same thing when you read a novel, you feed your brain information about the characters, plots, and subplots. So much to remember, right? Storing all of this information force your mind to create new memories and this in return opens new synapses or makes the old ones stronger.  

What can I do to engage my kids with reading?

Read them stories, for example, you could tell them the stories of the children of prophet Muhammad, read them Qur’anic stories for children. Tell them that reading is essential for improving their memory, provide them the reading materials like children's Arabic books. Make reading a daily habit. Be their role model, children tend to replicate what they see, so read in front of them. You could also make a daily challenge, if they managed to read what you ask them to read reward them. Additionally, kids love stories, so it is a good idea to encourage them by bringing them many children's stories. You could visit our Islamic bookstore and take a look.  

How can parents help their preschool child learn to read?

•       Start early by reading them children’s stories.
•       Buy them books that are filled with pop-up images or books with 3D images, as kids tend to engage better with visuals like pictures and colors.
•       Let them choose the books they want to read; this will encourage kids more to read.
•       Be their role model, children tend to replicate what they see, so read in front of them. You could also make a daily challenge, if they managed to read what you ask them to read reward them.

What will a child's tomorrows be like if reading isn't part of today?

“Every man who knows how to read has it in his power to magnify himself, to multiply the ways in which he exists, to make his life full, significant, and interesting” Reading is important but you can’t force your child to read, don’t stress them, when the time comes, they will read on their own or they will find what interests them in reading. What you have to do is to prepare for them the environment they need to encourage them to read. Buy them the Books they like, read to them, and with time they will love reading.    

What is the contribution of parents in the literacy of children?

Parents are the role model for their children, they look up to them. So, if you want your kids to learn reading you should start by reading them stories that interest them, and point out each word you are reading. Let them try to read on their own, and ask them questions. Play with them and teach them new words. Make a word of the day time to teach them a new word and what it means, make them try to put it in a sentence to ensure that they understand its meaning.  

How do you teach a child to read and at what age?

There is no specific age to teach your kids reading. There are some studies that show that reading to a nine months child can help them learn faster. Just make sure to start early, don’t wait until they go to school, teach them the alphabet, and let them try to read words on their own. “These days kindergarten reading skills are pretty universal,” Shanahan wrote in an email. “There is no particular age that one has to learn to read,” Shanahan says. “But starting early provides the greatest opportunity for children’s success.” Always make sure to read dua for children's success.

Importance of Reading with Your Child:

There are many studies showing that reading to children makes a huge difference to their performance. Also, children who read regularly show better performance on tests and help them build bigger vocab. Reading helps children build and gain knowledge about life and learn about other cultures and norms. It also helps them learn about other people's lives and problems; this makes them able to understand others. Reading makes children smart and kind.          Also, children learn to read and speak when they hear us talking, they learn from us, so to teach them how to read and understand you must read to them. Reading stories to them will teach them new words, and help them understand what they are hearing. Even if they can’t understand all the words, you are saying they will try to say the same word they heard to copy what you said. If your child is still learning how to read or if the child can read you should still read to them find the books that interest them. Always make sure that your kid is reading on a regular basis. Also, make sure to read with them the books they bring home or read them a new book, this will give them a greater understanding of life. Additionally, reading helps them focus hence performing better on tests and studying.