Top Reasons To Read To Your Child Before Bed

Posted on: 22 March 2019

You might have heard of the tradition of parents reading their children a story before bedtime, but you might not have ever started this routine with your own children. Reading to your children before bed can actually be a good habit to start, though, for these reasons.

Share a Few Special Moments With Your Little One

First of all, due to your family's busy life and schedule, you might not feel like you are able to spend enough one-on-one time with your child. Setting aside a little bit of time each evening to read to your child can be a great experience, though. Then, the two of you will have some one-on-one time.

Help Teach Your Little One How to Read

Reading to your child, particularly if you allow him or her to follow along in the book with you, can be a good way to help introduce your child to words and reading. Plus, if your child develops a love for the bedtime stories that you read to him or her each evening, then this can encourage him or her to be a reader later on in life.

Help Encourage Your Child to Go to Sleep

If your child usually has a hard time falling asleep at night, then it can make for a sleepless night for everyone in the house. Establishing a bedtime routine can help a lot with this, and reading a story to your child when he or she first crawls into bed can be a great part of this bedtime routine. Listening to a familiar voice reading a favorite story can be soothing and relaxing for children, and it might just help your child drift off to sleep. For best results, avoid reading any scary stories before bedtime, however, since this could make it difficult for your child to fall asleep or could cause nightmares.

Help Yourself Wind Down

Believe it or not, reading to your child at night will not just be relaxing for him or her — it might be relaxing for you, too. It's best to avoid screen time and to spend a little bit of time unwinding and relaxing yourself before you go to bed so that you can sleep well at night. You might just find that reading to your child in the evenings is just what you need to do so that you can sleep better at night, too.

If you don't already read to your child each night before bed, it might be time to start doing it. You and your child will probably both be glad if you start this new tradition.

Contact a bookseller like Books of the Tundra Ltd. for suggestions on which books to read to your children.

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