Reading to your child is such a magical and precious experience (spoiler alert: we think this is true no matter your child’s age).
Books are a wonderful way for parents, grandparents and caregivers to teach their children about the world around them. They can help form your child's early understanding of language, emotions, social skills, etc.
Reading books with babies is a great way bonding with child and build closer relationship together. The practice of reading also helps infants learn how to speak words by pointing out the place where they hear language in their environment (i.e., when they hear you read).
The earlier a child starts being read aloud to, the greater the chance he or she will have in becoming a good reader later on in life. Take a look at our post on how reading can boost your baby's brain.
The benefits of reading books to babies are that it builds a common language, helps babies learn how to read, and encourages a love of reading. The more baby hears words from their parents, the faster they develop their vocabulary.
At the age of six months, a baby's brain is about 50% developed. This means that they are able to understand and process information. One of the best ways to communicate with a baby is by reading books to them. There are many benefits of reading to a baby, including: increasing their vocabulary, language skills, and cognitive skills; stimulating brain development; and building a sense for how stories work. Reading from birth can also help develop their reading skills when they get older.
Best Time To Read To A Baby
It is never too early or too late to read with a child! Usually the best time to read with your baby is in the morning when they have just woken up from a nap so they are more alert and happy. However, if you can go through some reading whenever you are I the mood and it’s doable given the mood of your baby, the atmosphere then go for it. Always remember that a lot depends on your emotional state as well, as our kids pick up on our emotions. Obviously a bedtime story is another perfect time to wind down take your minds away from everything that happened during the day and enjoy a story.
How Parents Should Read To Their Kids
Reading to your baby is an important part of their development. The more words your child is exposed to from early on the more ahead of the curve will he or she be in their language development. But there is a lot more to the exercise of reading at this stage than language skills. Each book read with your baby enables them to explore the world around them, from your voice, to your emotions, to the illustrations and shapes and forms available in the book you are reading. There is a reason that a most of the board books have shapes and touch textures that help developing the sense of touch. All of this is anchored around the parent and cannot be replaced by a video on TV or audio books.
You Should Start Early! So What Kind Of Books Should You Start With?
Depending on the actual age of your baby there are a lot options that can be perfect for introducing books to your baby. There is a belief that it really does not matter what you read to your baby, as long as you read. However, reading borad books that are age appropriate will introduce some activities that are helpful. At this age, what you need to take into account is that you want to stay away from books that are heavy on text, your baby’s attention span is short so while he or she is enjoying the illustrations and touch and feel activities of the book you can ready the text, but too much text would make the reading process unpleasant for both of you. Here is a list of books for toddlers. You also want to keep away from all the sound making books, since that becomes annoying real quick for everyone involved.
