

Mother reading aloud for her baby
For many families, reading out aloud for toddlers is a nightly ritual before they sleep. However, most parents do not fully understand why it’s vital to their kids.
If you have not yet started reading storybooks with your kid, you might consider getting started for their sake.
You will notice that there are certain books that your kid is strongly attached to and wants to read repeatedly.
As an adult, this may be boring and monotonous. However, as a parent, you must understand that there must be something on the texts that keep bringing your kid back.
Toddlers benefit from re-reading as they learn rhyming words, which is better than reading a new book and trying to understand what the message is all the time.
Research has shown that a child who re-reads their favorite book has the potential of improving their vocabulary by 40%.
This is, however, achievable only when the text is read aloud.
Additionally, the studies show that when a preschool kid is reading a book aloud, the part of their brain that encourages imagery and comprehension significantly improves. As a result, the kid does not struggle with word recognition once they start reading.
By boosting the re-reading skills of a kid, you teach them that every text has a message, and reading many times can help grasp the meaning. They also learn to read more when they are stuck in a word.
The earlier you start reading aloud to your child, the better. The author of Reading Magic, Professor Mem Fox, says that reading for your unborn kid can increase their love for books and enhance their understanding.
Still not convinced? Read on to see the benefits of reading aloud to your kids;
1.Improved fluency
Fluency in reading makes your child a confident and strong reader. Fluency is many times confused for the speed of reading only.
Timothy Rasinski, a professional researcher, explains the “bridge” that fluency has between recognizing words and understanding what the book is talking about. He explains that reading fluently at natural speeds helps your child comprehend the meaning of the text.
When you read a book with your kid, they get to learn the essence of fluency in reading, and they get to emulate you.
To help your child, choose one book that he/she loves and takes turns reading it like echo reading – for starters read a sentence and let your kid read the same sentence, progress to a paragraph and eventually a page.
By listening to themselves reading fluently, they overcome the struggling reader mindset, where they believe everything is a challenge. This makes it easy for them to adjust once you enroll them to preschool.
2.Expands a Kid’s Vocabulary Knowledge
A study shows that processing a wide range of vocabulary means knowing many different words with different meanings for your child.
It is obvious that the higher the number of words your kid understands when they are reading independently, the more they enjoy reading.
Child development & learning programmes help preschoolers learn new vocabulary, but parents can significantly help their tots learn more by reading out loud to them.
If you are reading a book for the first time, flip through it and let your child point out words that may be new to them, and note them down. Take time to explain their meaning and use them in sentences for a deeper understanding.


Baby reading aloud
3.Helps in Comprehension
The whole point of reading a book, an article or a magazine is understanding the text to enjoy.
As an adult, the natural thing to do when you read a text and you fail to understand it is to re-read it.
This may seem obvious, but you have to teach your kid this concept for them to become sufficient readers.
Reading aloud gives a chance to talk about the events that are unfolding in a book and practise re-reading skills.
You can discuss what the book is talking about before reading it for a deeper understanding and prediction.
Also, hold discussions during and after reading for clarification.
4.Involves Other Family Members
Most mothers spend a substantial part of their lives taking care of their kids and take the reading exercise as part of their duty.
However, a study has shown that kids tap multiple benefits when male individuals in their life, such as male friends grandfathers uncles, and dad read to them.
Dads can encourage their children to be readers at home as they give them a different experience.
They are seen as an untapped resource as they can read using funny voices or like the characters of the book, which is very appealing to kids.
5.Brings the Fun Back into Reading
If you are an avid reader, you know that there are very few things that are better than curling up and reading your favorite book.
As a parent, this is exactly what you should sell to your kid.
Get a new book at the store, and bring it home with you.
Before reading the book, go through the pictures and use them to predict what will happen in the story.
Read the book aloud together with your child and use different voices for different characters of the book.
This adds to the fun of reading, which in turn makes your kid associate reading books with fun – and BOOM! You have won their hearts to reading by themselves without pressure, which is every parent’s dream.


Kids learning to handle books
6.Builds Awareness and Empathy
Literature is the best way of letting your child learn without experiencing. Literature comes with different subjects.
You can choose what you want your child to learn and read it aloud to them. During the session, let them identify the good and bad traits of the characters. Encourage them to suggest better choices that the characters would have made if they are wrong.
This helps your kid to understand humanity and the world at large.
7.Expanding a Kid’s Attention Spans
Encouraging and developing long attention span is very crucial for kids. It helps to boost their academic performance as well as their social relationships. It is especially vital once they are ready for preschool preschool enrollment.
At first, don’t overdo it, read for a few minutes and increase the duration with time. With no time, you will realize that your young one can listen for longer times before showing symptoms of tiredness and boredom.
This gives them a chance to enjoy the story.
8.Boosts Your Kid’s Imagination
As you read the book out loud to your kids, they visualize the events of the book, boosting their imagination.
As you read, they can imagine other countries, cultures, and experiences that they have not been yet in their life.
This helps them when they are required to come up with creative stories, making them excellent writers.
9.Reading Time is Bonding Time
Reading together with your child is a chance to experience adventure and feel emotion together without having to go for a vacation.
Bonding time is vital in child development, so you do not want to miss any opportunity that encourages it.
10.You Encourage a Lifetime Reading Habit
This is the main reason as to why you should read aloud with your child from a young age. When you read to a kid when they are young, they grow up associating reading with happy times.
This makes it easier for them to keep studying even when they are facing blocks in the process.
You, therefore, give them a gift of lifetime reading, which is very imperative.
A Final Word on the Benefits of Reading Out Loud to Your Child
If you are a mom or a mom to be, it is time to start reading aloud for your unborn child or toddler.
As strange as it may sound, this is one of the greatest gifts you can give your child.
Reading out aloud will make your child a confident reader and speaker, help them get more vocabulary hence enjoying stories more, help them associate reading with happiness making it a lifetime habit among other great benefits.
Don’t just leave the responsibility of reading to the teacher, be part of your child’s reading growth!
Also, remember to check our kindergarten, kindergarten franchise and what we offer in our preschool programme.