You enjoy snuggling with your child under the blankets while you while reading bedtime stories—maybe for the 20th time. It’s a fun, cozy time for both of you.
Did you know that it’s also a powerful way to give a lifetime of benefits to your child? Whether you’re a parent or a caretaker, reading bedtime stories is one of the best things you can do for a child you care about.
The Impact of Bedtime Stories
Studies have found that reading bedtime stories can:
- Boost intelligence scores.
- Encourage empathy and understanding.
- Improve a child’s vocabulary.
- Encourage reading as a hobby.
Once you learn more about these benefits, you’ll want to make bedtime stories a regular part of your daily routine.
Promote Brain Development
Sensory experiences are important for helping little brains develop. When you’re reading bedtime stories, you’re surrounding the child with several sensory experiences at once. Your child hears your voice, feels the pages turn, and looks at the pictures.
At the same time, they’re hearing and learning unfamiliar words. Because the experience is enjoyable, they connect a learning experience with one that’s fun. In a way, it’s like a teaching session in disguise. It’s fun for them, and it helps you bond, but it’s also an important way to help them become better thinkers.
Get Carried Away
If you enjoy reading, you know part of the appeal is the way reading can transport you to another time and place. Reading gives you a close look at other places, cultures, people, and moments in history. You can have experiences far beyond those that you might otherwise have in your life. Reading takes you to real-life stories, fantasy worlds, and places you may never have imagined.
That’s great for your mind, and it’s a wonderful way to escape. We use books to spend time in another time and place, and to do so among people we would never have a chance to meet.
Children can enjoy bedtime stories for the same reasons. When you’re reading bedtime stories, you use the magic of storytelling combined with pictures to help your child escape. They’ll learn that this is something they can do any time they pick up a book. Instilling a love of reading in a child is one of the best gifts you can give them.
Boost Their Intelligence
Do you want smarter kids? Love of reading is linked to higher IQ scores. In fact, one study—from Perspectives on Psychological Science—found that reading bedtime stories would boost a child’s IQ by more than six points. Reading is linked with verbal cognition, and kids who learn to read at an early age are ahead of their classmates when it comes to reading fluency, spelling, vocabulary, and other important markers.
Improve Focus and Concentration
Reading together is an excellent way to teach focus and self-discipline. At first, your child may find it hard to sit still for the story. If you’re reading to more than one child, ask them all to pay attention instead of talking or playing with each other.
Encourage them to stay in one place while you read. Ask them to look at the pictures to keep them engaged. You may soon start to see your children stop moving around as they focus on the story.
This form of early self-discipline has other benefits. It is a gentle way to improve their ability to concentrate and focus. That will serve them well once they begin school. Children who have enjoyed bedtime reading have longer attention spans and more self-control.
Expand Their Vocabulary
Studies have repeatedly found that children who were exposed to reading have large vocabularies. They aren’t frightened by new words, and they’re eager to learn their definitions.
A study from the National Center on Early Childhood Development found that children who listened to bedtime stories in their early years were exposed to more than 1 million more words than children who didn’t get that exposure. Reading bedtime stories will give a child an expanded vocabulary, which makes learning easier and increases the odds of academic success.
Foster Feelings for Others
Reading can foster empathy and understanding of other people. By reading about children who have different family situations, live in unusual places, or experience different life events, they develop greater awareness about other people. They also develop an awareness and respect for other cultures and lifestyles.
Books help children recognize feelings in other people, and parents can use that to help them talk about their feelings. Ask simple questions like, “Wow, that little boy was sad. Have you ever been really sad like that?” Use this time to foster an awareness of their emotions.
Children have a natural empathy for animals, which is why so many children’s books feature animals as the main characters. If a book features emotional moments, explore those with your children. Encourage them to put themselves in the character’s place. Empathy and compassion are powerful, positive traits that bedtime reading can help children develop.
Develop a Stronger Bond
Reading stories together is one of the best ways to foster your bond with a child. Everyone gets a chance to slow down, forget distractions, and spend time together.
Reading together gives you time to focus and decompress. During this time, the rest of the world is shut out, and your attention is solely on the child. Your child will enjoy it, too. For most people, memories of reading their favorite bedtime stories stay with them for a lifetime.
Whether you’re a parent or a caretaker, you’ll appreciate this chance to nurture your bond while you nurture your child’s love of reading.
Foster Language Fluency
Learning to read aloud is the key to reading fluency. Children who enjoy bedtime stories will soon learn to read themselves. They’re inspired to learn how because they want to do the reading themselves. If you see them pretending to read a book they know by heart, you’ll know they’re getting ready to take the next step of learning the alphabet.
Ease with one language is also useful for helping kids pick up other languages later. Some parents worry that if they or their caregivers don’t speak English fluently, it will harm the child’s ability to learn. In fact, reading to them in another language is fine. It won’t interfere with their vocabulary, retention, or ability to read. If you want bilingual children, read bedtime stories in both languages.
Ready to Read
Are you ready to get all these benefits for your child? Use these tips to create a routine for reading bedtime stories you’ll both look forward to:
1 Set a specific time to do it. Make reading part of your child’s sleep routine.
2 Use physical books instead of e-readers. You get the most benefits from a multitude of sensory experiences, which only books can give you, and you avoid the pitfalls of using blue screens at bedtime.
3 Read with meaning. Use varying tone levels, and try using a different voice for each character.
4 Don’t stretch it out. Most children 2 and under can last about 10 minutes, and children who are 3 or 4 may feel sleepy after 10 to 20 minutes.
5 If you finish the book, many children will ask you to read it again. If you still have time, go ahead and do so.
Reading Bedtime Stories Are Good for Both of You
If you enjoy reading, share the joy with your children. It will create lasting memories and help them become better prepared for school and for life.
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