Benefits of reading to babies

 
A book is a baby’s first theatre and now US paediatricians are urging parents to read to children from their earliest days.
 
Even the smallest babies are ready and eager to engage and tune into what is being read to them.

Benefits of reading to babies

 
Among the many benefits of reading to your baby is the way this kind of sharing gives them space, intimacy and a shared, multisensory experience all at once.
 
With the sound of a carer’s voice, the security of being held, the colours and contrasts in the art, all combine to lay strong foundations.
 
Reading is not just about literacy, it’s about bonding, and it’s about emotional, psychological and spiritual wellbeing – for both parties.

Parents who spend time reading to their children create nurturing relationships, which is important for a child’s cognitive, language and social-emotional development.
 
Reading aloud and talking about pictures and words in age-appropriate books can strengthen your baby’s language skills, literacy development and parent-child relationships.
 
Children who are read to during infancy and their preschool years have better language skills when they start school and are more interested in reading.
 
Remember to read age-appropriate books to your children and to make it fun. Children have short attention spans, so you cannot expect them to sit still and listen for long periods of time.

For babies and toddlers perhaps point to and name pictures in books or ask toddlers questions or have them repeat rhymes from short books.
 

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Source: Barefoot Books - offering award winning children's books and gifts.
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