Dr. Seuss famously said that “you’re never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child.” Taking the time to read to a child is one of the most important things you could ever do, that’ll amount to the greatest joy you could offer to your child.
Reading opens multiple doorways to learning and opportunities to escape and grow in this life and in the mindseye. Reading has a plethora of advantages and can do a world of good for your child, as well as for building your relationship with them.
Every day when I sit down in our big, comfy recliner to read with my son, it is a time that produces the biggest smile across my toddler’s face. He will happily waddle-run when he hears the phrase “go to the big chair” because he knows exactly what to expect: cuddles with Mom or Dad and his Winnie the Pooh alongside a stack of stories he loves.
In this article, I’ll be going over 10 points on the importance and joy to be found in reading with your child, so that you too can take in the incredible experience of learning, laughing, and bonding that’ll be cherished by both you and your child.
Plus, at the end of the article I’ll be including a list of 25 of our family’s current favorite children’s books that I hope in sharing will also be included and loved in your family’s library as they have to ours.
1) Bonding Time Between Parent & Child
One of the best ways to bond with your child is to place them in your lap and read with them. I’ve shared in previous posts how some of my favorite memories growing up were being read to by my parents, specifically reading The Lord of the Rings with my Dad.
Now my toddler might be a bit young for such a read, but his love for books has already helped our relationship to grow and created a time that we greatly cherish together.
Reading opens a whole nother world of compassion, imagination, and joy that becomes the thread that’ll bind you and your child in a healthy, meaningful way.
2) Encourages Love of Reading By Example
There was a social media post I saw a couple years ago of a mother and her child both reading books while on the subway. Someone asked the mother, “how did you persuade your child to read instead of playing with smart devices?” Her reply was simply this, “Children don’t hear us, they imitate us.”
Children take note of and notice far more than we give them credit for, and as such are expert copiers. What they see or hear, they say and do. What is important and of value to you will speak loud and clear to them and will in turn be seen in the same light by them.
As you showcase to them that reading is of greater worth of your time and energy than aimlessly scrolling on social media, they will in turn hold books in higher value than mere digital devices.
3) Provides the Pathway to Becoming a Life-Long Learner
Reading allows the mind to attain and process knowledge in a way that fascinates and stimulates the mind. As you take the time to read with your child, you are setting a firm foundation for them to not only enjoy reading but to learn from reading, not because they have to but because they want to.
Making reading a regular habit and a beloved ritual sets the precedence now that learning and reading are seen as less of a stress and more of a joy.
Therefore this in turn will make reading a fun, intriguing activity not a dreaded one, setting the pathway towards a life-long love of learning in your child.
4) Expands Understanding of the World & Develops Empathy
Books open the gateway for coming to terms with multiple ideas, viewpoints, people, and their endless, incredible stories. Reading to your child allows them to think outside of themselves and to better understand not only all that the world has to offer them, but to view those around them with kinder, empathetic eyes.
Reading has allowed me opportunities to better understand and come to love a multitude of cultures and people around me, to be challenged in the ways I think and live for the better, and to view those I meet with an increased willingness to express empathy.
These are all skills that I long to extend to my child and I know one of the best tools in doing this is done through not only reading but through the specific books we read together and add to our family library.
5) Enhances Reading & Listening Skills
Reading with your child obviously gives them opportunities to fine-tune their reading skills, but also helps in enhancing their listening skills.
As you read with your child, they become familiarized in sentence structure and how their given language works and a realization of what is being read and said, enhancing listening skills. Reading often allows you to remember more details and to better understand what is being explained and taught.
As you read with your child, you are allowing their comprehension skills to increase and their communication skills to evolve, which will not only assist them in school and work, but in their day to day lives as they grow up.
6) Nurtures Growth & Development
Studies have shown that the earlier you read to your child, the stronger their development in language-related areas in their brain, which is essential as they later go on to school.
Reading helps in the overall development of your child’s brain, allows them the ability to focus, gain social and communication skills, and when you have a strong knowledge base, it allows you to better learn, comprehend new things, and be an effective problem-solver.
Reading is the perfect way to nurture your child’s growth and brain development so they can better interact with others, learn in school, and positively support their physical and mental health.
7) Develops Imagination
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, that “the greatest gift you can give a child is an imagination”. Imagination stimulates progress and is a fabulous way for children to learn and thrive.
Reading allows children to develop and expand upon that great, blessed gift of their imagination. Reading can allow for expression, open new ideas, and gain a greater understanding of new things, thus giving children the opportunity of freely creating new worlds, strengthening their minds, and finding joy in getting lost, or finding themselves, in a good book.
One additional way to expand upon their imagination while reading, is to be interactive while reading. Whether that be utilizing sounds and voices as you read, emphasizing words and phrases, or acting out what is being read, this will all come together in making story-time an enriching experience that will make reading come alive for you and your child.
8) Reduces Stress & Aids in Better Sleep
You’ll notice that as you take the time to read that you feel more relaxed and at ease. Studies show that reading relaxes your body, lowers your heart rate and blood pressure, eases tension in your muscles, and reduces stress to significant degrees.
With all of these great advantages of reading positively affecting our stress, it goes hand in hand with aiding us in having a better night’s sleep. As you read to your child as part of their bedtime routine, you’ll be calming their minds, relaxing their body, and improving their overall health supporting them in a restful night’s sleep.
The Sleep Council says that “39% of people who are in the habit of reading before they go to sleep, sleep very well”. Reading is a far better alternative to watching TV or being on digital devices for your child’s health and well-being, which us adults could all take a page from, pun intended.
9) Create a Fun, Comfortable Environment
Reading to your child doesn’t have to be only done in one set location, but creating a fun, comfortable environment can definitely set the stage for a positive experience towards reading with your child.
Two ways we have done this in our home is by allowing our child to choose which stories he wants to read, exercising his independence in being free to choose and be involved, plus we either read in the comfort of our big, cozy recliner or make a blanket nest as we call it, which is basically an array of blankets and pillows made into a human-sized nest.
Creating such an environment adds to making reading something to look forward to and an absolute joy for all involved, making that bonding time we talked about earlier more plausible and fun.
10) Be Enthusiastic 
If you give off the air that reading is one more thing you have to do with your child, viewing it as a chore rather than a joy, it will speak loud and clear to your child.
Being sincerely interested in and enthusiastic towards reading with your child will add to the experience and give off positive, endearing vibes that’ll make reading a thrill and an impactful time for the better, now as your child is young and as they grow up.
A Gift that Keeps On Giving
“Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope” is one of the most key quotes towards the importance of reading with our children. Giving them a resource of hope, creativity, and growth is a gift that will keep on giving throughout their lives that they can reference to again and again and again.
Reading will enable them to become better listeners, leaders, peacemakers, and people that will do great things either in the world at large or in their own corner of the world. No amount of good is ever too small or ever not enough and reading will pave the way to such good.
25 of Our Family’s Current Favorite Children’s Books
In our home we are avid readers and learners, and our home is constantly being filled with more books and stories that teach us, expand our minds and hearts, and make us strive to be better individually and as a family.
I wanted to take this time to share a few of our current favorite children’s books that I hope will add such joy and enlightenment to your family’s home as well.
They are the following:
1)Classic Disney My First Bedtime Stories
2)Little Critter Just Go to Bed by Mercer Mayer
3)Little Critter Just For You by Mercer Mayer
4)Little Critter All By Myself by Mercer Mayer
5)You Are Special by Max Lucado
6)Sesame Street We’re Different, We’re the Same, & We’re All Wonderful
7)Happy Hippo, Angry Duck: A Book of Moods by Sandra Boynton
8)Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow
9)Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
10)Beautiful Savior by Greg Olsen
11)I Wish You More by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
12)Winnie the Pooh All Year Long
13)ABC’s for Future Race Car Drivers by Eat Sleep Race and Fast Kids Club
14)Chicken Soup with Rice by Maurice Sendak
15)Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle
16)Little Blue Truck’s Springtime by Alice Schertle
17)Good Night, Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle
18)How to Babysit a Grandpa by Jean Reagan
19)The Pout Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen
20)Good Night Fire Engines by Adam Gamble and Mark Jasper
21)My First Baby Animals Book
22)Paw Patrol: Good Night, Adventure Bay!
23)Quack! Moo! Oink! Let’s Listen on the Farm Book
24)Peek-a-flap Dig! Book
25)Corduroy by Don Freeman
Now I’d love to hear from you: what was a story that was read to you as a child that you love even now as an adult? Please comment below and share this article if it has been of value to you or could be to someone else.
About the Author
Hi there! I’m Stephanie Tracy, a freelance writer, editor, and blogger for hire. I specialize in physical and mental health, parenting, and self-development. I create engaging, inspiring and useful content to help businesses progress in making their viewers into customers. When I’m not writing, you can find me happily playing with my toddler, walking in the park with my family, or indulging in a movie marathon with my husband.
What a great article. The importance of stories with little ones goes a long way in their development. A few stories, two in which I actually have here are: The Day The Clocks Stopped and Jeremiah Learns To Read. Another that I plan to re-buy for the sake of having it is Love You Forever, by Robert Munch. Great stories takes a child a long way, even when they might not realize it!
Story-telling is definitely an essential, key factor in raising and nurturing children that has a far-reaching, lasting effect if we will but take the time to do so.
I’ve never heard of “The Day the Clocks Stopped”, I’ll have to look into that one.