Benefits of Bedtime Reading

Researchers at the Department of Paediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine have proved conclusively that reading to young children stimulates their development and gives them a head start when they reach school. The research published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood found that apart from helping their reading, sharing a bedtime story with a child promotes their motor skills, through learning to turn the pages, and their memory. It also improves their emotional and social development. Studies show that children who are read to from an earlier age have better language development and tend to have better language scores later in life. Getting children to grip pages with their thumb and forefinger improves their motor skills. Most important though, said Dr Zuckerman who lead the research, is that reading aloud is a period of shared attention and emotion between parent and child. This reinforces reading as a pleasurable activity