Have you ever seen a kid in a movie or a TV show asking for their parents to read a bedtime story? And how many times has your child asked you to do the same? Reading aloud to children before they fall asleep is not just a thing of the past or a cinematic nod to suburban culture; it’s a routine which is good for children and their development. American Academy of Pediatrics even recommends reading to infants from birth. Some researchers suggest that bedtime stories are boosting child’s brain development in many ways. So, here are some actual benefits both children and parents can receive from this lovely routine.
Sparking the Imagination
Remember Peter Pan and how children believed in fairies and how they, as they grew up, simply stopped believing? Well, we can say it is similar with kids in the “real world” and imagination. They are born with enormous potential to dream. They start dreaming at the early age but as they grow older that potential weakens. One way to cultivate their imagination is to read them bedtime stories. They can never get the same kind of stimulation with television or computer.
Strengthening the Parent-Child Bond
Having a shared routine has always been a great basis for creating and strengthening the bond between a child and parent. If that routine involves reading a bedtime story, it creates an even tighter bond, since it is reassuring and soothing for the children to listen to their parents’ voices before falling asleep.
Nourishing Love for Reading
Kids see their parents as role models, and if they see you reading to them every night, soon they will want to do that too. Even before they learn to read, they’ll start taking the books in their hands, looking the images and pretending to read. When the curiosity for literature is awaken in their early years, children are highly likely to become avid readers when they grow up.
Improving Language Skills
By reading bedtime stories to your children you are helping them build a rich vocabulary, which they will use later on. You can start with simple board and picture books and upgrade it to longer tales as they are growing older. If you want to enhance their skills even further, you can use storytime as a foundation for conversations, so that they could practice to pronounce words properly. Books introduce kids to objects, ideas and abstract concepts, which are, otherwise, not a part of everyday conversations.
Creating Safe and Healthy Sleep Environment
Tucking in a child and reading a bedtime story is the perfect combination for a safe and peaceful sleep. Invest in a good latex mattress to ensure your child is comfortable and relaxed. Keep the size in mind: if your ritual of reading bedtime stories means lying together, choose the bigger one. Besides, it’s very important there’s enough of fresh air in the room, so make sure you keep the windows open a few hours before bedtime. Also, the air shouldn’t be dry, so get an air humidifier, which will add moisture and even provide them with quiet and comforting hum reminding of the sound of the womb.
Expanding the Horizons
Children who listen to bedtime stories are more likely to be aware of the vastness of the world surrounding them. Not only they will know about the people and objects around the globe, but also, with the right books, they will learn to cherish and respect the differences between them. Additionally, they’ll learn manners and social behavior.
Almost every children’s book has a lesson ; it can be about helping others, teamwork, respecting the elderly, etc. And there is the eternal topic of the “good guys” vs. “bad guys”. Simplified as it might seem to us, they’re just what the children need to learn those values.
The most important benefit, though, is that children feel loved because parents are devoting their time to them. Trust us, it’s no fairytale.