Reading before bedtime is an age old tradition that I had as a child; a pleasant habit that has been passed on through generations in my family.
There are many benefits linked to reading to your child before bedtime:
It should become part of their daily routine, which we know is something kids thrive on, and can also become an indicator that it is almost time to go to bed - another great technique to trick them into bed without them even realising.
Reading to your child is also a special time to be close to your child and bond with them. A wonderful and magical moment for the two of you to spend together with no interruptions, a precious gem in this extremely busy and fast moving world we live in.
Bedtime stories help to bring out imagination in children, it helps with their thought processes, and it can also serve as a teaching tool for everyday life skills and scenarios that need to be learnt. Furthermore, they teach our children, in an engaging manner, how to achieve a positive outcome in life.
A more scientific approach shows that reading aloud can improve their speech and language skills, while increasing their spelling ability and memory too. Reading also encourages their logical thinking, a series of life skills we all need!
In addition, if your children are very young and just starting to read, bedtime stories can teach them primary colours, counting, shapes, and nursery rhymes in a fun, exciting, and age appropriate way.
Books are able to take children into a safe and enchanted world for a few minutes each day. This helps them de-stress from their daily pressures, as even children have to deal with daily stresses. This can be a relaxing and, believe it or not, a fun way for both child and adult to share stories with each other.
For example, if you were to read a longer book with chapters, you could both move forward in the story, reading a chapter each, with the knowledge that there will always be more to come tomorrow. This technique teaches our little ones that not everything is immediate and that if you stay the distance then there will be an end in sight, once again, a very important life skill.
Nowadays, due to our current, fast paced way of living, we are always too focused on our handsets, tablets, and computers to even look up and read an old fashioned book. Since tablets and Kindles were invented, gone are the days of going to a local book shop to buy a book as a gift. Children don't always want a tablet to play on, or to be distracted by. They actually like to look at books, they like the feel of them, and will get great excitement from choosing one off the shelf at bedtime, a simple action which leads to nice one - on - one time with their parents/family.
More importantly, if you can get your child into a story reading routine from a young age, they will be more likely to continue reading as adults. They will continue to enjoy the benefits of it, while enhancing their imagination, their thirst for knowledge, and escapism.