MINT HILL, NC – Reading with your child daily yields abundant benefits. Early literacy is an indicator of future success.  Reading strengthens vocabulary, comprehension, and communication skills. Exposure to new words, grammar, and punctuation improve writing skills. 

Introduce your child to the world of reading through a designated storytime with you at home. Your child will be thrilled to have 20 minutes of your undivided attention and associate reading with bonding with you. How can you make reading with your child a part of your daily routine? Tie reading time with a task that is completed every day. Having story time just before bed or right after dinner will help you to incorporate reading into your daily routine. Allow your child to choose books that interest them. Allowing your child to choose books that interest them will help reading become an enjoyable experience. Both fiction and nonfiction books are beneficial. Fiction books foster imagination. Albert Einstein said, “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will get you everywhere.”

 Nonfiction books help children to delve deeper into their interests. Reading also increases our emotional intelligence. It exposes children to the lives and situations of other people and develops empathy. It helps children to make sense of the world around them. As your child grows and develops, what you read to your child will change. As your child continues to develop he or she will eventually begin reading to you. Incorporating reading into your family’s everyday routine and allowing your child a choice in the books that are read help to reinforce the importance of reading every day.