Studies show that reading regularly at home makes a successful child.  Reading is fun, adventurous, humorous, heart wrenching, and mysterious.  Diving into a good book can do wonders for a child of any age, from 1 to 100! It helps them discover themselves, to mature, to learn about the world around them, and to deal with issues they may have. Reading and writing can be an escape from the real world for anyone.

Read every day. Read to each other. Children should be reading every day with or without you. Make it family time to read together regularly. Studies show that when children are read to their comprehension and vocabulary increases. You can make it a bedtime ritual to read together right before bed. Take turns reading, have an older child read to a younger child, or have the younger child read to the older child!  Hey, let's read to the family pet too!

Praise your children when they conquer a sentence or a chapter. This should be a fun, bonding time and something they look forward to every evening.

For the next two weeks, try to make Story Time a regular in your house.  If you have older children they can read in their bed for 15 minutes before bedtime. If you have younger children you can read together.

Happy reading!