Ruth's Blog: 'Again, again!' Why reading to your child every day is a predictor of later reading comprehension

Did you know that being read to is the most powerful predictor of your child’s future reading comprehension?

By reading aloud a story to your child every day, you are fusing the act of reading with comfort and love: when you love a book, your child will want to hear it again and again. Children are wired to thrive on repetition, so when you’ve read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see? for the hundredth time, remember you are hardwiring their brains for success.

The exponential effect of reading to children is huge; read to your child and this is what you give them for free:

• The ability to pay attention, to focus on something shared
• A breadth of vocabulary and a deeper understanding of language
• Phonological sensitivity to alliteration, rhyme and rhythm
• Knowledge of new places and people: real and imagined
• Knowledge of how stories work
• Understanding of analogy
• The ability to think ahead, hypothesize and to infer what characters are thinking
• Opportunity to discuss moral issues: right from wrong
• Time to chat
• Your attention

If you read aloud for 30 minutes a day, your child will have had 750 storytime hours even before they start school. Let the authors do the work for you; all you need to give is a bit of time and a lot of love.