Research on Benefits to Reading to Your Child
With National Read a Book Day becoming a trending topic on Twitter recently, we thought it was time to revisit some research on the benefits of reading to children. Research from The 90% Reading Goal (Lynn Fielding, 1998) found that the difference in lifetime earnings between children being able to read at third grade level or above and those who couldn’t was $500,000.
In The Book conducted a survey which went on to reveal that only 18% of adults in the UK read to their children for 20 minutes a day. The benefits of reading to your child for just 20 minutes a day are plentiful.
Increased cultural understandings, higher academic performance and conquering the fear of classrooms are just some of the benefits that come with reading to your child each day.
Cultural understanding
Books can teach children about different cultures and customs, making them more tolerant to others in day to day life
Higher academic performance
An advantage to reading to your child every day for a short period of time is that the child will develop a higher competency for learning in new environments. Studies have shown that students who are exposed to reading before the age of 4 are likely to achieve higher in formal education than those who aren’t.
Conquering the fear of the classroom
Being familiar with reading aloud at home equips the child to be more comfortable and confident when they start school. When reading to your child every day, the repeated act reinforces their reading ability and therefore builds up their confidence.
Find out more about reading with your children at: In the Book
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