Not all parents get the chance to read to their little ones before bed. But, it appears that reading bedtime stories to children isn’t a tradition that should be thrown under the rug just yet.
According to psychologist Anne Fernald, the effects of reading to a child is as important as feeding them. Since children need to use their memory to follow the plot of a bedtime story, their brain is more active.
She said: “You are building a mind that can conceptualise and imagine and think about the past and think about the future.”
The research also showed that infants who are spoken to at an early age are faster at understanding words. It was found that those who process words at a fast-pace when they were two, perform better at school by the age of eight.
Professor Erika Hoff of Florida Atlantic University, says: “The advice I give to mothers is to have conversations with your babies. If you are paying attention to your child’s engagement, you don’t have to worry about the conversation being too complex or too simple.”
Remember, when it comes to teaching, you can never start too early.
