5 Reasons To Encourage Your Child’s Reading Habit

1. Facilitates Exchange of  Ideas

Sharing stories with your child in the formative years is a healthy way to set the first example of sharing ideas with others. Read to your child, try and help the child read, make it a two-way process. Encourage your child to read alone and think about the ideas and concepts introduced in the text. When parents hold positive attitudes towards reading, they are more likely to create opportunities for their children that promote positive attitudes towards literacy and they can help children develop solid language skills. When parents turn reading into a family activity, it helps the child’s cerebral development.

This should not feel like work to either of the parties. Let there be a free and open flow of communication between the parents and child.

2. A Reading Habit Encourages the Will to Explore More.

Share your love of reading with your child through books, magazines, websites, and apps. Explain how reading can help them to follow their hobbies and interests. Help them to join blogs, online communities, and clubs that link to their hobbies whether it’s swimming, football, dance or music.

Show your child that there are opportunities to share reading ideas and recommendations and the excitement of reading through a variety of clubs, groups, fairs and more. Regardless of your child’s hobbies and interests, a solid reading habit will foster a need to know more and excel.

3. Helps in Reading Between the Lines

Talking about stories, poems and textbooks can help your child understand the different perspectives presented in a book. It’s not just about what’s happened or who did what, so talk about major issues, about the often marginalized topics, discuss with your child about the things written between the lines.

When parents share books with children, they also can promote children’s understanding of the world, their social skills and their ability to learning coping strategies. Children become more curious about the world that is beyond their immediate environment which in turn helps them gain perspective. Reading from a young age promotes critical thinking as well.

4. Promotes Resourcefulness

Along with encouraging your child to explore more, a reading habit also, in turn, promotes resourcefulness. Your child is fond of reading up and putting in the research. It also endorses a habit of due diligence.

When your child is asked to research a topic, talk to them about how they will tackle the task. Remind them to look in books and use the library as well as the internet. Talk to them about how you decide what to use and what to reject. Educate them to trust only credible sources. This information can best come from parents. Every child in the classroom is exposed to the information provided by the teacher. As parents, you can give your child an extra edge.

5.  Makes Them Adept to Change

Children who read are more adept to change as they comfortable in entering different worlds, as constructed in books. Yes, it takes time to absorb everything you have learned or felt, but it also helps to critically analyze and achieve catharsis. Reading makes it easy to purge emotions and therefore, moving on is relatively easy.

Children enjoy reading series of fantasy books, and these really help with their reading pace and stamina. However, over time it’s a good idea to try to gently move them on to keep their reading experience fresh and broad.

Look beyond the exam percentage, let your child find and explore the beautiful world of books. It will have a positive as well as a lasting impact on the child’s well-being. Open new doors for your children, let them leap and bound and explore their imagination. Read to them, read with them, and let them find their own favorites.

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Happy reading!

Bookish Brat