The Imagination Library and BEGIN WITH BOOKS encourage parents to read aloud 15 minutes every day. These 15 minutes could be one of the greatest gifts you give your child. Reading aloud promotes language development and builds the skills needed to learn to read and arrive in kindergarten ready to learn. But that’s not all. By establishing a regular reading habit, you are also building your child’s emotional resilience and giving them the gift of self-regulation. What do we mean by self-regulation? Self-regulation is the ability to manage our emotions and deal with life’s challenges in healthy and predictable ways. We develop self-regulation skills through the build ing of the neura l pathways that make up our stress-response system. Children who grow up in stable households, with loving and attentive caregivers, have an easier time regulating their emotions. This, in turn, makes it easier for them to make new friends and get along with others in school and other social settin
Are you reading regularly to your little one? If yes, keep it up! You are preparing your child for life-long success. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends reading aloud to children for at least 15 minutes a day beginning in infancy. Those 15 minutes spent reading together can be the best part of the day for both of you. According to the AAP, children who are read to during infancy and preschool have better language skills and are more interested in reading when they start school. What's more, sharing a book helps kids and parents create a closer bond which is so important for cognitive and social-emotional development. Reading to a child doesn't always come naturally Even though educators and children's advocates have long beaten the drum about the importance of reading to children, it doesn't always come naturally to parents. They may have negative associations around reading and books from their own childhood, or school experience, or be uncomfor