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Sunday Reading: No? A Daily Ritual.

Spend an afternoon in our living room and just try and not trip over one of a dozen books spread across the floor…

The importance of an evening reading ritual has become increasingly apparent as The Girl creeps closer to the ripe old age of one. (Have I used that line before? Ah, well.) I may have previously written here the details of this particular habit but I’ll reiterate: each evening following bath-time, we cuddle up in the chair as a family and read a story. Sometimes it’s a chapter from a big book, sometimes its a few pages from something shorter, sometimes a picture book, and occasionally its something as simple as casually flipping through a board book and pausing to talk about the pictures. But, always — or as often as humanly possible — each evening is capped with a book in hand. And the importance of this ritual — to parrot my opening line — has become apparent not only as part of a routine that calms The Girl before we plunk her into her crib, but also important as nurturing a blossoming love of books in a young mind.

How do I know this? Spend an afternoon in our living room and just try and not trip over one of a dozen books spread across the floor, having been pulled from the shelves each day, their pages (often heavy cardboard pages, of course) poured over meticulously by a set of young eyes or held aloft towards dad or mom in prompting for a read. Spend an afternoon in our living room and just try not to be begged with those little eyes to read a few pages from Sandra Boynton, Dr. Seuss, or some little Golden Classic. It’s my anecdotal evidence, and I’m sticking to it.

Does all this reading make her smarter? Probably not.

Does all this reading improve her language skills? Not likely.

Does all this reading prepare her for greatness? Ha!

Perhaps someday there will find conclusive proof that the young mind inundated with countless hours of “Goodnight Moon” has some advantage in intelligence, but for now reading is just a great way to spend a few extra minutes with your skepkid anytime of the day — and it probably won’t hurt their inclination to keep that tradition alive with (or without you) as the years press on.

For some great suggestions on what to read with your kids, check out our friends’ suggestions at Claire’s Booklist Blog!

The SkepDad Blog is meant to casually reflect on questions surrounding parenting and raising kids to become critical thinkers by asking questions and examining parenting ideas with a skeptical eye for facts and science. Each article is one dad's personal opinion, backed (where relevant) by literature and published research, or otherwise based on personal experiences and insights. SkepDad welcomes balanced discussion, comments, and ideas.

September 7, 2008 by Brad
Filed as: Skepdad thoughts

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Comments

4 Responses to “Sunday Reading: No? A Daily Ritual.”

  1. Podblack on September 16th, 2008 5:52 am

    ‘Parent-child literacy activities in the home, such as helping children recognize letters, reading to children, or assisting children with reading and writing assignments, have been found to improve children’s language skills and heighten their interest in books.

    Source: Primavera, J. (2000). Enhancing family literacy competence through literacy activities. Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community, 20, 85-101.’

    Source - http://tinyurl.com/6o2b8u


  2. LoopyNZ on September 17th, 2008 12:59 am

    I remember seeing on DadLabs (video podcast) that one of the dads makes a habit of sitting with his 10-year-old son at bedtime and they each read their OWN books to themselves.

    He had realised that the only time he read a book was when he went to bed, so his kids never saw him reading for pleasure.

    I don’t know if it had solid scientific backing, but it’s an interesting idea… role modelling and all that jazz!


  3. Brad on September 26th, 2008 10:10 am

    There was a whole section in the book Freakonomics that talked about the correlations between reading and intelligence. I’m not particularly a fan of the book — particularly because it seemed to be making a lot of correlative “leaps of faith” — but the data for linking kids to books was interesting. The author had a similar idea: role modeling was far more important than the books, and I’ve seen the same thing at home. The Girl gets very little “intellectually” at this point, but cognitively and socially books are a big part of her life. And that seems to be a good thing.


  4. Rob A on October 10th, 2008 5:24 am

    My sons are 5, 3 and 1 and I really enjoy our daily bedtime stories. Minimum 2 books, possibly after a story from mum in French (bilingual home), and - on weekdays - after the eldest and I have done his homework reading.

    Keep up the habit!


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