Wanderlust: Expat Life & Style in Thailand April / May 2017: Health & Wellness Issue | Page 44

TURNING THE PAGE
In a world of glowing screens, reading endures as
one of the most important childhood pastimes. And
the benefits may be broader than you think.
By ANNALIESE WATKINS
L
ook around you, and it would be easy to con-
clude that reading — good old page-through-a-
book reading — is vanishing at an alarming rate.
Screens are everywhere. Pedestrians wander across
Bangkok’s busiest roadways hunched over their phones.
Schoolchildren study not by cracking the books but by
basking in the iPad’s glow.
Not so fast, though. Appearances can sometimes be
deceiving.
Reading, in whatever form it takes, is alive and well
and helping make our world better in so many ways. Dr.
Seuss’s advice still applies: “You can find magic wherever
you look. Sit back and relax — all you need is a book.”
The celebrated children’s author and illustrator let his
young audience know that what awaits them between
the pages of a book can be something truly special —
something that can inspire creativity, bolster the imagi-
nation and encourage intelligent thought. Though these
brain benefits are unimportant to kids, who simply see
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stories as fun pastimes, reading’s importance to cognitive
and emotional development cannot be understated.
Here are five glimpses into why childhood reading en-
dures — and why it must.
1
EVEN READING ON SCREENS
HELPS
While many predicted that the rise of the internet would
see the printed word die out, it has actually made reading
a bigger part of our daily lives. And reading in any form —
whether it be in books, in magazines, on smartphones or
on websites — exposes children to essential new vocabu-
lary words every day.
In early life, children learn to break down new words
into their most basic sounds. It is a process called de-
coding, which creates the foundation on which all other
reading skills are built. As they grow, children will begin
to comprehend the meaning of words, sentences and,
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