Reading to children during the first three years of their life is so important that the American Academy of Pediatrics has just included it in recommendations to new parents.
Starting this week, the more than 62,000 pediatricians in the U.S. will not only give the usual breast-feeding and immunization advice to new parents, but they’ll also be talking to them about the need to read aloud to their new baby.
Reading together should be a “daily fun family activity” right from the start, Pamela High (the author of the new policy) told the New York Times.
Reading, talking and singing are important ways to build a child’s vocabulary in their early years.
Researchers say they can recognize gaps between children who have been read to, and those who have not, in children as young as 18 months old.
Those who have been read, sung and talked to regularly “have heard words millions more times,” according to the Times.
Reading aloud to children is particularly important with the advent of new technology. More and more, parents find themselves handing their phones and tablets over to their baby, to swipe and click. It’s a new, high-tech form of babysitting that simply doesn’t do for them what reading aloud does. Pediatricians recommend that children be kept away from screens until they are at least two years old.
The bottom line is what parents (and GKR readers) already know: read to your child, every day.
Here’s a link to the New York Times article.
