Reading Is a Gift: 5 Reasons to Share Stories With Kids

by volunteer, Madison C.

Reading is an essential and valuable resource for children, and Charities Readers For Tomorrow hopes to bring that resource to children who may not have access to it. Some of you may wonder why reading and books are so important. To help you understand the value of reading, here are five ways it can benefit children.

1. Reading books builds social, communication, and emotional skills in kids

According to raisingchildren.net.au, reading can help children grow socially and emotionally in ways other media cannot. Emotional growth is so important, and so is being able to communicate those emotions. Communication, which is talking to others, is something most people do every day, and reading is a great way to practice communication with your kids. Emotions are also valuable; many may lock them away or view them negatively, but even sad emotions can have positive effects, such as empathy. So being able to articulate your feelings is really important. Reading is a great way to help with these because the characters in the story are constantly communicating their feelings to the reader, and connecting to these characters can help kids connect to others.

2. Reading can inspire kids' imagination and creative development.

According to Highspeedtraining.co.uk, kids and adults can be inspired by books. Imagination and creativity are essential in our world, and a good way to motivate kids is through reading. Imagination is where stories come to life and books are written, so it feels accurate to say that books can inspire readers to bring their imagination to life. Creativity, too, can be brought forth by books and endearing characters. It has happened to me one too many times: I fall in love with a character or story and draw them, or create my own character so similar to the original that it's obvious what the inspiration was. Books can inspire, and children are the most aspirational people I know, dreaming of becoming impossible things; books can encourage and stimulate such beautiful fantasies of the kind that only children can dream.

3. Reading books builds critical thinking

According to Ocasa.org, books can help kids engage in critical thinking. Critical thinking is crucial in society, from school to work to almost everything else, and there is no better show than a book to teach a child how to do so. Books can help children learn to ask the big questions and the small ones. Books can help kids look at things from a new point of view or a different angle. Some books can even help with problem-solving, helping kids along as they put the pieces of the puzzle together to find out what's happening. In my opinion, books have sometimes done this even better than educational shows. It's hard to think when a screen is on, but when turning words into a world, the gears in our minds are always turning with the pages.

4. Reading supports kids' cognitive development

Cognitive development is how children think and learn about the world around them, how they explore and figure things out. It is their overall development of knowledge, skills, problem -solving, and dispositions (helpmegrowmn.org). This development is happening for most if not all of the time a child will spend under their parents roof and as such it is important for the parents to support that development. According to (allforkids.org), reading is a great way to support children's cognitive development. Learning about all those unique characters with their own skills and personalities may help them discover who they are mentally.

5. Reading is a great way to improve language skills

Talking is something that everyone does a lot, but even the masters of conversation still slip on their tongues. According to thencbla.org, a good way to help children expand their internal dictionaries is to read. Books can teach language in many ways, from reading allowed to having to look up a word because you have no idea what it means, thus providing satisfaction of learning a new word. Books offer descriptive phrases and a better use of language than you will ever find in the average person's vocabulary. So reading is a great way to teach kids about words they never would have known existed and to practice verbalising those words in a safe environment.

In the end, the benefits of reading for kids are very valuable and worth a shot in your own life with your own kids. Once more, you can provide these benefits to kids who would never have had them otherwise by donating books and supporting Charity's Readers For Tomorrow.