Why Reading Aloud Matters
We have always read to our children, especially before bed time, but a while ago I picked up the book, The Read-Aloud Family. It completely changed my view on reading aloud to my children. I would even be so bold to say that this book changed parts of the way that I now do my job as the mother to my 3 children.
If you are the least bit interested after that, I urge you to just pick up the book and read it. You won’t be sorry. It is a quick and engaging read full of inspiration, practical tools, and guides to help you begin this practice with your children. But, to give you a high-level overview, the premise of the book is the idea that there is almost no greater way to spend your time as a parent than reading aloud to your children. Yes, there are academic reasons for this, but this is so much more than that. This is about the connection, the memories, the language, the teaching of critical thinking, the ideas introduced, and the hard conversations that naturally develop from specific books. The fact that you and your child together are enjoying something. You are giving your child your undivided attention, yet the book and the words are doing all of the work. The time shared between the pages of a book is unlike almost any other thing you could do together.
When books are intentionally chosen, and it is something that you enjoy as well, I promise that you will find yourself looking forward to this time with your children. Shiloh and I read the Vanderbeekers of 141st Street towards the end of the school year, and we would read a bit every day while we waiting in carpool. I found myself just as excited as her to find out what was going to happen next! We got to share in that that anticipation and wonder.
We have found that if we have a healthy pile of good quality library books on hand, when there are small moments throughout the day, we are much quicker to grab a book and all read aloud together. I have been intentionally choosing one chapter book that is a little above their level that we read together at night. This is such a good way to introduce them to higher-level vocabulary, ideas, and experiences that characters in these books encounter. Currently, we are reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory together.
There is no wrong way to do this, so I encourage you to just start. It’s never too early or too late. Let your kids color or wiggle while you read, I promise they hear it. Choose intentionally (there are so many great lists and guides to help) based on the season, a child’s interest, or maybe something you are going through as a family.
We also sometimes choose books that have a movie to go along with them, and after we finish the book we get to watch the movie together as a family! It’s fun to compare the differences and similarities together.
Recent Reads: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Because of Winn Dixie, Charlotte’s Web, Dulu, The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street to the Rescue, The Kingdom of Wrenly Series, A Dog’s Day Series, Little Women