One of the best pleasures in life as a parent is reading to your children. Most parents sit with their kids at least once a day to talk to them and laugh with them, but it’s the time you spend with them reading that will make them feel like they are connecting with you. Bedtime stories are going to give you a chance to spend time with your children, and it’s good for their development, too. 

Children will be better prepared for school, they’ll learn faster, and they will do better in their studies in the long run when they are read to each night. Whether you are reading books to prevent learning loss or you are reading books for fun, you should make the time to read at least a few pages of books per night with your children. Below, we’ve put together five reasons that you should consider reading to your children every night.

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1. It’s calming. You want to get your children ready to sleep and a good way to calm them down is with a story. It’s not a screen, which can wind them up before bedtime, and it’s a good way to help their body to relax as much as possible. Focusing on activities that promote restfulness is important and it slows down the mind while relaxing the body at the same time. 

2. Getting ready. When your child is watching a book as you read it, they are getting ready to read. They’re hearing the sounds and they are connecting those sounds to the letters in front of them in the story. They see what the letters look like and they see that pages are read top to bottom, left to right. These are basics to us, but monumental skills for your child.

3. Building imagination. When your kids watch TV, they can see the scene play out in front of them. When you read to them, they think about it. They form the picture in their minds and they can take it all in, engaging in the feel of the words and the sounds that they create. It’s a big deal that your child could do this, and they end up wanting to hear more and learn more because their imagination is going to bring up everything that they need for the story to come to life.

4. They’ll learn about the world. Children are able to learn moral lessons from stories that they read. They’ll learn who the good guys are and who the bad guys are, too. They’ll even learn where they can go to learn more about their ambitions and joy.

5. You will build a stronger bond. Bedtime reading can be the last thing that you do with your kids before they fall asleep in the night time. It’s a nice way to snuggle down and bond with them, making them feel safe, warm and ready to listen to what you have to say. They relax to your voice, to your smell and your touch next to them.