Meta description- Early childhood development is dependent on developing a reading habit. Explore the top advantages that reading offers and how to encourage it here.
Reading quality books and materials help us develop and nourish ourselves as an individual, and there are no two ways about the same. From newspapers to journals and novels to comics, each and everything plays a pivotal role in determining the early childhood development of a person, and to that end, it is essential to invest and focus on inculcating the magical habit of reading in our children from an early age.
Now, as parents and educators alike, we are faced with the universal conundrum as to how we can go about doing just that, and while we keep on hitting roadblocks, each and every stakeholder tunes in with their own sort of advice and suggestions regarding early childhood educational growth, but deciding on the right course of action often leaves us flummoxed in more ways than one.
In this blog, we will be shedding light on some of the important reasons why you must strive towards developing a habit of reading in your children right from a tender age, and while doing so, what are some of the roadblocks and issues that you might have to overcome as well. Early childhood educational development of reading isn’t an overnight task that one would be able to successfully achieve within a day or two, well, in most cases, it isn’t, and considerable dedication would be required to achieve the desired results. So, let’s get started.
Encourages cognitive development:
Cognitive development is a term that is commonly discussed within educational circles, and what it basically refers to is the capacity of one’s brain to understand, comprehend, and react to whatever is going on around them. During our childhood, we experience an explosive rate of brain development, and during this phase, we are most likely to develop and strengthen the cognitive skills that we must possess to grow and develop as successful individuals in our own fields.
Reading helps develop these skills and cells in a manner that’s better than anything else out there, and to that end, we must develop a habit of reading in our children right from an early age.
Helps develop critical language skills:
You might have observed that it is a lot more difficult to pick up a new language as an adult than it usually is as a child. Now, this does have a lot to do with the environment that we are being exposed to, but reading plays a major part in this as well. During the early years, our children are most receptive to the various inputs that they are getting, and reading would help bolster their social, literary, communication, and language skills better than anything else out there.
Enables the fostering of a healthy parent-child relationship:
As we gradually move towards a hyper-busy lifestyle, the overall amount of time that we are able to spend with our children on a regular basis often diminishes over the years. Now, it is not really possible to cut down on our own careers and livelihoods to dedicate more time to our children, and to that end, we must find something that would help us make better use of the time that we actually get to spend with our younger ones. This bonding is an essential part of early childhood educational development, and reading can help solidify it.
As we read to our children regularly, they get to interact with us and hear our voices, something that helps establish a form of trust and affection between both parties involved. Early childhood development does involve a great deal of reliance between the parent and the child and a healthy habit of reading would help strengthen this bond better than anything else there is.
Besides these, there are numerous other benefits that a healthy habit of reading would bring to the table for our children, something that would help them immensely during their lives. But, developing the said habit is easier said than done, especially in an era when digital technology is increasingly replacing paper books and novels. So, what are some of the measures that can be taken to make the most of the situation that would assist with our child’s early childhood educational development? Well, here goes.
- Take them to book fairs and bookstores on a regular basis. The vibe and aroma of the places would certainly get them attracted to the reading materials that would be present there.
- Replace screen time with reading time. Although difficult, limit the amount of time that your child spends binge-watching comics and cartoons online, and replace them with physical books and magazines.
- Encourage them to associate with like-minded friends and individuals in their circles who are into reading. This would help them access the ecosystem that’s needed for healthy early childhood development.
- Ensure that your child has access to a wide range of genres and languages. Having a varied set of offerings on the table would help them develop a particular sense of affection towards the range of materials that are on offer, and that too from a very early age.
Final take:
Early childhood educational development is heavily influenced by the books and reading materials that we devour as children and young adults. The aforementioned pointers shed light on the various advantages that reading brings to the table, and what are some of the methods that we can avail of to develop a habit for the same in our children as well. Happy reading!