As parents and caregivers, we want the best for our children, whether it’s their social, emotional or academic growth. Reading to your children is one practice with many benefits to offer, both in terms of your relationship with the child and their linguistic, social, emotional, and psychological growth.

Here is why you should read stories with your children:

1.    Helps Your Child Bond With You

Bonding with your child is essential for gaining their trust and helping them feel secure. Spending time with your children doing shared activities helps strengthen your bond with them; they feel safe and loved when a parent or caregiver reads stories to them. It helps slow down an otherwise hectic day and even fosters a love of literacy in your children.

2.    Listening Skills

Before your child can start reading, they must develop some listening skills. Reading out to your children helps them acquire listening skills and build an attention span. If you make your stories more engaging by adding music, voices, and adventure, children are more likely to engage better as they listen.

 

3.    Vocabulary And Language Development

Vocabulary and language development are an essential part of reading and comprehension. Books have words that we don’t ordinarily use daily, thereby exposing your children to different new words and helping them build their vocabulary.

4.    Cognitive Development

Cognitive and language development go hand in hand. A study found that children who were read to or talked to scored better in cognitive development, such as problem-solving skills. Further studies have identified that this advantage gives such children an edge up to teenage.

5.    Fosters Creativity

Books open up a world of imagination for children. New characters, fantasy elements in stories help children think outside the box and develop empathy. Creativity is essential for the emotional health of children as well.

6.    Imparting Lifelong Lessons

Stories contain lessons and learning. Age-appropriate books can help children relate to the troubles of book characters and use these lessons in their own lives, such as dealing with fear and anxiety when going to the dentist, for example.

If you want to read Italian stories to your child to help them learn Italian, Learn Italian Reading-Listening can help you. The website is a treasure of Italian short stories for beginners and Italian books for learning grammar and vocabulary so you and your child can learn the language together.