Member-only story
New Neuroscience Shows Why It’s So Important to Read Aloud to Your Kids
You’re an parent in the modern world, which means you’re busy. One thing that might be getting the chop due to your crazy schedule, according to a new survey? Reading aloud to your kids.
A new British survey from data company Nielsen and publisher HarperCollins found that the number of parents reading aloud to their preschool-age kids declined to just 41 percent, from 64 percent in 2012. Just 40 percent of parents in this latest survey described reading to their little ones as “fun for me.”
But a lack of enthusiasm for shared reading wasn’t the only likely reason for the decline. A third of parents said they wished they had more time to read aloud to their children.
It’s easy enough to see why parents and kids might feel so exhausted at the end of the day that they’d consider skipping a bedtime story. But a host of educational experts, as well as fascinating new neuroscience, suggests entrepreneur parents should think twice before giving up on the classic parenting activity.
All the ways reading for fun benefits kids
Educators have long advocated that parents read aloud to kids. Reading for fun introduces children to the magic of the written word in a relaxed, low pressure setting.
