As spending quality time with your family becomes increasingly favorable not only to parents but also to children, we need to enhance their brain growth and development. Reading at bedtime with the children is more than just a pleasure; it’s a treasured bonding experience. They should learn to read not only the school books but also children’s stories, fables, fairy tales, and more. It can go a long way as they get older. Not only that, but they will also develop a good reading habit. What they learn at a young age, they’ll eventually do by themselves once they are adults.
Parents, it is beneficial to include reading time with your children before they go to sleep. Begin to develop their reading habit while they are still young. If not that, then at least spend more quality time with them by telling stories about how your day was or any story so that your children would get to know more about you as their parent.
DEVELOPMENT EFFECTS
Cognitive and language development are two of the beneficial effects children will experience when you incorporate these activities into their daily routine. Their communication abilities would also be enhanced. Have the children ask you questions about the stories you read. To develop inquisitive minds would make them more thoughtful and enable them to have good problem-solving skills through their analogies. Developing these abilities at a young age would not only be beneficial to them as children but also as they become adults. Their way of thinking is well designed to come up with solutions for their daily tasks.
Don’t simply read. But instead, have regular discussions about the stories. It is good to have interaction time with them. Ask them questions to determine if they understood what was read to them. Have the children ask you questions so they can better understand and develop good comprehension.
It is not simply a chore to read at bedtime with them, but reading becomes a more meaningful bonding time with the children. You also get to check up on each other and see how they are doing. Finding time to read to them would develop a good habit, and it also helps them sleep better. With reading, you’re not only developing their reading habits, but you also get to check on them with their mental health. It is one of the vital aspects of life now, especially after the pandemic, to see how everybody is doing, not only physically but also mentally.
In the early 2000s, there was a time when a Dora the Explorer educational children’s toy with audiovisual features was available. It was like a projector. You shine it on the ceiling, and it reads the story aloud to them. When you are so tired from work, this could be one of the learning tools that could take that place instead. No matter whether you read to them or you have those kinds of intellectual toys, quality time with your children is what counts the most.
In a digital world where children spend more time on their gadgets, it is essential to adopt a more holistic approach to traditional learning. This is where old-school reading with books plays a significant role.
WELL-BEING
Not only does it develop the children’s intelligence, but it also fosters better social-emotional well-being for them. It helps you connect. When they hear you pronounce words, it develops their vocabulary. Have the children ask you about words they do not understand, which aims to promote literacy progress.
In an article by Wendy Wisner at Sleep.com, she discussed in detail the benefits of developing good reading habits with your children. These are: better sleep, bonding, literacy, child development, and the benefits of independent bedtime reading. When reading to the kids, it does help put them to sleep. They are lulled to sleep with the sound of your voice and promote bonding time between parent and child.
As children grow older, they should also have their own independent reading schedule at bedtime. You don’t have to read to them, but at least checking up on them makes them feel loved and know how their day went.
Parents can also incorporate prayer time into their bedtime reading routine. As parents and children discuss their day, reciting a prayer can help strengthen their hope and faith. It is not only essential to have good emotional and intellectual development but spiritually, there is growth. No matter how busy your schedule is, always find time with the children. In doing so, it not only promotes the benefits of reading time to them but also the bonding moments you have with them at an early age, which will become part of the memories they’ll always cherish with you.
