The Benefits of Reading Bedtime Stories to Your Child

Do you allot some time to read bedtime stories to your child? If not, then you may want to start soon. Other than being a long-held tradition across several cultures, there are various benefits to spending time reading to your child. In this article, we will run you through the various benefits of reading bedtime stories to your child and how it can improve their reading skills.

Integrating a Wind-Down Routine

Your bedtime story reading can become a wind-down routine. You can ease them away from the daytime play energy into a more relaxed night-time preparation.

You can set a routine to take a bath, change into pajamas, brush their teeth, and read a bedtime story to sleep. With a wind-down routine, they are more likely to relax and ease into sleep, saving you from sleepless nights with a still-active child.

Bonding with Your Child

Reading to your child is a great way to bond and spend quality moments together. You get a shared quiet time at the end of the day. This creates a stronger connection between you and your child.

Improving Their Reading

Seeing and hearing you read can help orient your child with the concept of reading. Before you know it, they will be reading these books themselves!

You can ease this process through the following tips:

• Teaching them how to hold a book and turn the pages
• Changing the inflections and tone of your voice as you read to indicate questions, exciting sentences, etc.
• Running your fingers through the letters and words as you read to help them get oriented with these letters and words

Helps Build Their Vocabulary

Other than the reading skill itself, reading to them also helps improve their reading comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency. They may ask you about difficult words and add new ones to their vocabulary. You can also reinforce this vocabulary and reading comprehension through preschool learning apps.

Having a Conversation with Your Child

Parents may find it challenging to converse with their children. Reading bedtime stories opens conversations as you get to discuss the stories you read. You can talk about the characters in the story, how the story made them feel, confusing parts of the story, what they imagine the story to be, etc.

Fosters Their Love for Reading

By regularly reading bedtime stories to your child, you establish that reading can be a fun experience. You get to transport them into different places and scenarios through these stories, which opens up their imagination and creativity. This can foster their interests and build curiosity about other stories and topics.

When Should You Start Reading to Your Child?

It is never too early to start reading to your child, as even babies will love to explore books. They may grab at the book to get a feel, look at pictures, listen to your voice, and go along with the sing-song rhythms in nursery rhymes. For young children, you can go for books with a lot of repetition, fun sounds, and easy words.

Choosing the Right Books for Your Child

It is best to look for books that suit the reading ability of your child as difficult books may be too overwhelming or dull to look at. For infants, you can go for black and white books and books that they can grab and squish. There are books made of soft fabric and varying textures for this purpose.

Toddlers may have fun with board books. These are colorful and sturdy enough in case they should chew on them or drag them around. As they grow, you can eventually progress to longer stories with fewer pictures to prepare them for preschool reading.

Conclusion

Reading bedtime stories can be a fun way to end your child's day with a positive and enriching activity. It is also something that you can do together, which can be a great way to bond with your child.

If you have never tried reading with your child, you should test it out and discover the benefits of it yourself.