An article in the Washington Post today highlights the importance of reading aloud to your children. Yes, the secret to your child’s success is simply that “READ ALOUD TO YOUR CHILDREN.”

The article features the thoughts of a reading specialist, Barbara Bosworth. She’s attached to Haycock Elementary School in Fairfax County Public Schools. She’s also a Johns Hopkins University faculty associate. Something she shared that I believe to be the heart of her message is this:

It’s simply that the single best predictor of how a child will do over 12 years of school is: How much s/he was read to prior to the first day of first grade. It’s that simple.

Wow! That’s really something parents with young children have to keep in mind (including myself). I have always tried to put aside time to read to my children. Sometimes life gets too busy and I postpone the reading to another time. In the end, the “another time” gets forgotten. So I’m trying hard not to do too many “postponements”.

Another thing Barbara mentions is this:

A lot of reading aloud means 20-40 minutes per day. It does not have to be 20 consecutive minutes, but can be 5 minutes here and 10 minutes there.

So, to say we have no time to read to our children is really not an excuse. 20-40 minutes per day is really not that long, especially if you spread it throughout the day. Children books are not like adult books. The text is simple and the stories fairly short. It won’t take you long to get through 1 book. Even with discussion, 1 book will probably only require 5-10 minutes of your time.

The article can be found here:
Why it is so important to read aloud to your kids

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