Importance Of Reading For Kids
Do you wonder about the importance of reading for kids today?
So much of our learning and entertainment is screen-based these days that it’s tempting to think reading doesn’t matter as much as it used to. After all, why read the book when we can watch the movie? Well, as it turns out, there are actually a number of really important benefits to reading.
So much of our learning and entertainment is screen-based these days that it’s tempting to think reading doesn’t matter as much as it used to. After all, why read the book when we can watch the movie? Well, as it turns out, there are actually a number of really important benefits to reading.
- Kids who read often and widely get better at it. Practice makes perfect in almost everything we humans do and reading is no different.
- Reading exercises our brains. Reading is a much more complex task for the human brain than, say, watching TV. Reading strengthens brain connections and actually builds new connections.
- Reading develops the imagination. With reading, a person can go anywhere in the world.They can be a king, or an adventurer, or a princess. The possibilities are endless. When we’re engaged in a story, we’re also imagining how the characters are feeling. We use our own experiences to imagine how we would feel in the same situation.
- Reading improves concentration. Children have to sit still and quietly so they can focus on the story when they’re reading. If they read regularly as they grow up, they develop the ability to do this for longer periods.
- Reading relaxes the body and calms the mind. When we read, we read in silence and the black print on a white page is much less stressful for our eyes and brains.This is important because we seem to have forgotten how to relax and especially how to be silent.
- Reading teaches children about the world around them. Through reading, they learn about people, places and events outside their own experience. They are exposed to ways of life, ideas and beliefs about the world which may be different from those which surround them.
- Reading improves a child’s vocabulary, leads to more highly-developed language skills and improves the child's ability to write well. This is because children learn new words as they read but also because they unconsciously absorb information as they read about things like how to structure sentences and how to use words and language effectively.