Nowadays, many parents think children’s books are not necessary since there are so many different sources for their children to learn such as using different apps or just by watching short videos. But what you get by actually holding a book is much more beneficial than just handing an iPad to your kids and making them watch short learning videos. Moreover, children at a young age might get addicted to those electronic devices and which can cause long-term issues to children’s eyes and brains.
Many children’s books are enjoyable for children and adults alike. Children are never too young or too old to start reading. In fact, some mothers even start reading to their children before they are born. Research has found that unborn babies hear their mother and react to their voices. Children learn at a much faster pace in the first six years than at any other time of their lives, because vital connections in the brain are made very early on in life. At birth, a baby is born with about 200 billion active brain cells or neurons. Each of these brain cells is capable of sprouting up to 20,000 different dendrites connection between them which stores additional information. These connections allow children to receive sensory input through early experience and form the basis of all future learning and intellectual abilities. When a child is taught to read, the process of learning has a deeper influence on the entire functioning and development of the brain.
Daily reading to preschool children may be the single most important thing parent can do to improve their children’s chance for success in school. It imparts a love of learning and leads to higher grades in every subject. When children learn to read at an early age, they have greater general knowledge and an expansive vocabulary bank. They will become more fluent readers. They also result in improved attention spans and better concentration. Early readers can recognize a larger number of words by sight which enables them to learn more from and about their environment. Only by mastering effective reading strategies can the child pick up the necessary knowledge and information, which allows them to become scholarly in the future. Moreover, early readers not only become lifelong readers, but also lifelong learners. Long term studies have shown that early readers continue to get higher grades than their peers through grade school.
Children's book editor, Janet Schulman, once described the educational and emotional benefits of reading to children with her metaphor that "books help give children a leg up on the ladder of life.” Of course, nurturing parents should continue to read to their children after they start school and for as long as they will listen—which, if all goes well, will be throughout the elementary school years.
With International Children’s Book Day in April 2nd, celebrate the importance and the benefit of children’s book by reading to your child.
Ben Wu