The Importance of Encouraging Your Child to Read Often
One of the best things you can do for your children is to instil a love of reading from an early age.
This is born out by the words of Dan Snow (the UK historian and TV presenter) who says that reading to children from a young age is one of the best ways to set them up for life.
He is one of several ambassadors for an organization known as Coram Beanstalk, helping to improve children's literacy through one-to-one sessions with its volunteers. As well as highlighting its work in the media, Dan also visits schools to give talks to pupils.
The importance of reading skills in children
Dan says:
"Reading with young people is the closest you are going to get to a magic bullet to help increase their chances in later life."
He adds:
"It's amazing. More than so many other measures, being read to is the best indicator of later life outcomes so it is the best thing you can do. If you want to make a difference, this is the most efficient way you can do it. If you read, you are informed. You are able to take control of your own destiny. Reading is this key that unlocks your personal agency."
Children who do not reach an expected level in literacy
In the UK, thousands of children leave primary school unable to read to the expected level.
Meanwhile, the United States is facing a literacy crisis. Here are some numbers that speak for themselves:
- More than 30 million adults in the United States cannot read, write or do basic math above a third-grade level.
- Children whose parents have low literacy levels have a 72% chance of being at the lowest reading levels themselves. These children are more likely to get poor grades, display behavioral problems, have high absentee rates, repeat school years or drop out.
- 75% of state prison inmates did not complete high school or can be classified as low literate.
- Low literacy is said to be connected to billions of dollars a year in health care costs because almost half of Americans cannot read well enough to comprehend health information, incurring higher costs.
When her children were in elementary school, my daughter volunteered to help improve the reading skills of some of the young students who were struggling. This is something many other young mothers could volunteer to do too. There is such an obvious need.
If you have young children or grandchildren, please take the time to read to them as often as you can. It is not easy to go back and make up for that lost opportunity later in their lives.
SOURCES:
Camp Discovery Stories (aad.org)
10 top tips for parents to support children to read - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Written by Jane Chitty
Jane writes for Healing Natural Oils, a producer and retailer of high-quality, all-natural treatments for a variety of conditions as well as a range of beauty products. Apart from writing about those various conditions, she also covers general health, environmental and other subjects of interest. She has lived in Kenya as well as Cape Town, South Africa and spent time in San Diego, USA. She now lives in Somerset, England with regular visits from her far-flung children and grandchildren. She is a keen gardener and enjoys growing fresh fruit and vegetables with her husband on their joint allotment. As a result, there is something available to use in the kitchen virtually all year round. Her regular posts can be found on our blog.