So many people don’t think reading to kids from a young age is important. So I thought to share how I started reading to Nathan.

I am happy that Nathan loves to hear stories. Sometimes books calm him and divert him from tantrums. My mom had the patience and read me many books. Similarly, I wanted to raise Nathan as a hoarder of books. I made an environment for him filled with books. He finds books in every nook of our house. We have lots of reading nooks and I love how those little hands flip the pages.

I found out about picture books while Nathan was 3+ months. So I bought a few board books with touch-and-feel pages from Amazon, and I used to keep them in front of him. It was the time he loved to be in his tummy and this was a clever choice. He slowly started gazing at those pages and slowly he started enjoying them. Then days passed, and he started exploring the touch-and-feel pages in books.

According to his liking, I started getting books. I don’t make reading a chore. He enjoys that story-time and sometimes he asks for dinosaurs or cats or dogs or fish or any insect books. We have a huge home library of his books and sometimes he picks up his books and gets engrossed with them. Most of the time, I read to him and I stopped counting the books I read. He can listen to 7+ stories before bedtime.

Another advantage of reading, I found, was increased vocabulary. The more I read to him, he talked well and correlated with the surrounding things. Those small moments I spent with him reading made a huge impression on him and his usage of words, as well as how he responds to a situation. He even says this looks like the story we read in that book. Also, the retelling of their stories by him is so cute to hear.

How can we start inculcating this habit? Read this article to know more about Raising a Reader

So I would suggest you all read one book to your kid per day and the bond will be cherished forever.

• Pick any book, in any language you are comfortable with.
  Go by the choice of the kid. Never force them to pick your choice.
  Unnecessary to pick only the classic books, though, as they claim to be interactive: Many classic books are not as interesting as the hype.
  Tell them inspiring stories and stories about nature that spark creativity in them and engage their minds.

Let me know the magical moments you have with your kids while reading.

Drop a comment if you find this interesting.

To read more about the benefits of reading CLICK HERE