The Importance of Reading in Children’s 5 Great Reasons to Read to Your Children

This week is National Story Telling Week (28th January 4th February), an important week for children all over the UK.  If your children are of school age, they’ve probably come home with some leaflets or handouts for this week and their school or class may even be holding events to promote National Story Telling Week.  If you can make it, be sure to attend any sessions that are organised by your little ones’ school; teachers love to get parents involved and it’s a great reflection on your kids too. National storytelling week highlights the importance of reading in children.

Love Your Library

Your local library will also be sure to be staging some sort
of event to promote National Story Telling Week and the importance of reading
in children. With so many libraries in the UK under threat of closure,
supporting your local library is a great way of making sure it will be there
for you in the future.  Libraries often
have great children’s sections with new books coming into their stock on a
weekly basis.  This means that your child
will always find something new to read in the library it’s a great way of
making sure they have plenty of books available and it’s all absolutely free!

During school holidays and half term, most libraries will
organise activities for the kids (sometimes on a weekly basis) which will
include crafts, visits from story tellers, authors and other interesting
people. Libraries also have regular story time sessions for pre-schoolers,
often followed by a simple craft activity that lets the kids get their hands
dirty without messing up your house.

Reading Begins at Home

However, if you want to get your child in the reading habit,
then you should really begin at home.
Make sure that your child has plenty of books available and try to have
a regular story time session at least once a day; bedtime is a great time for
reading to or with your child. Reading stories leads to calmness which will
help to promote sleepiness.  Of course,
your child is much more likely to develop an interest in reading if he/she sees
you, as parents, reading on a regular basis.

If you need convincing of the importance of reading in
children then take a look at the following five benefits of reading on a
regular basis:

So, fill up your bookcases,
take advantage of what’s on offer during National Storytelling Week and
encourage your kids to read on a daily basis it’s sure to lead to a brighter
future for them.