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Bedtime Stories – the Benefits of Early Reading With your Kids

For most parents, snuggling up with their pre-school kids for a bedtime story is an eagerly-awaited and enjoyable event. It’s a rare chance for parents and children to relax together while developing an early appreciation of language and literacy through the magical world of books. But parents don’t have to wait until the toddler years before they make books a daily part of family life.

Many expectant moms read to their bumps because they know that their babies can hear – and recognise – their voice while they’re still in the womb. This is believed to help the bonding process after birth. And although very young babies won’t understand what you’re saying, they will still enjoy the sound of your voice and looking at the brightly-coloured pictures in the book.

Mike and I started reading bedtime stories to our daughter, Emma, when she was only a few weeks old. We hoped that establishing this regular routine very early on would make bedtimes enjoyable, and help her to sleep through the night. It did take a while for the sleeping through the night to happen, but the stories we chose remained firm favourites with Emma for many months.

According to research, reading with your child in this way will help him or her become familiar with the idea of the written word, and associate it with pleasure, laying a strong foundation for early literacy.

Reading books with your child is, after all, one of the nicest activities you can share. It develops so many skills, from building attention, encouraging language acquisition and vocabulary development, to developing emotional intelligence about character motivation and experience.

This might sound very technical and complicated – but it all happens quite naturally when you read with your child. Research has shown that the home environment can really make a difference to a child’s development. In fact more important than the mom’s educational attainments is how she interacts with her child. If the mother reads to her child, plays rhyming games, sings songs, talks about letters and sounds, and takes her child to the library, these activities at home are more important and can make up for a low education level.

Research has also shown that early development of social, language and cognitive skills does provides an essential foundation for the child to form successful relationships with the rest of world as they grow older: a child with strong abilities in these areas will be more likely to acquire the skills and emotional stability that are essential for a productive, responsible and happy adult life.

It’s never too late – start reading with your young kids today!!

About the Author

Ellie Dixon lives in deepest rural Devon, England with her husband and two very large Newfoundland dogs. She is passionate about vintage illustrated children’s books and loves to restore and edit them for today’s kids to rediscover.

Visit Kids of Character“, a unique range of beautiful illustrated books and fun activities all designed to help parents grow responsible, trustworthy kids of good character, or for even more great books visit Scruffy’s Bookshop, Ellie’s main website.

Bedtime Stories Trailer

365 Read-Aloud Bedtime Bible Stories Parents and children will enjoy this story $0.99

Winnie the Pooh’s Bedtime Stories Hard Back Book Disney $5.99

ALWAYS Anna Pignataro ~ Bears ~ Beautiful tribute to parenthood ~ bedtime story $1.89

Madonna-Secret-12″ Single-Junior Vasquez Remixes-From Bedtime Stories Album-NM $14.99

My Greatest Book of Bedtime Stories, by Annie McKie 1998 $14.90

Bedtime Bible Story Book $4.93

Total Of 9 Books For Kids A Fun Way to Read For Bed Time Stories! $9.95

Bedtime Stories Budoir Buyer Vintage Pinup Art Poster $17.98

Paperback. Jill Robinson: Bed/Time/Story: Crest 981006 $2.62

Bedtime Stories: Bedtime Stories: The Junior Novel $2.91

Bedtime Stories: School’s Out? (Disney Bedtime Stories) $2.91

Three Bedtime stories big Golden book by Garth williams $15.00

My Ladybird Treasury of Bedtime Stories Pb,GOOD Book $6.62

Monster Stories for Bedtime (Fantasy stories for bedti $4.43

The Great Big Book of Bedtime Stories and Rhyme $9.96

The Great Big Book of Bedtime Stories and Rhyme $9.96

Monkey Mind: A Captivating Bedtime Story for Children N $16.57

Bedtime Stories for Cats by Leigh Anne Jasheway 0836227123 $4.97

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Bedtime Bible Stories by Kappa Books 1576572439 $4.97

Madonna Bedtime Stories - $7.99

Bedtime Stories Book | Enid Blyton HB NEW 1841355283 GD $15.55

Snoozers : 7 Short Short Bedtime Stories for Lively Lit $11.14

Bedtime Stories (2008, Paperback) Brand New! $0.99

Me Too! Bedtime Bible Stories by Marilyn Lashbrook NEW B5 Hardback $17.04

A Story for Bedtime, Various $31.88

The Walker Book of Bedtime Stories, Reeve et al Lindber $1.56

Shelley Duvall’s Bedtime Stories: Elbert’s Bad Word / Weird Parents [VHS] $2.19

Madonna Bedtime Story Us 12″ written by Bjork $18.99

Madonna Bedtime Stories Album 1994 Magazine Advert #2184 $7.89

BEDTIME BIBLE STORY BOOK BY SHIRLEY MCCANN GEE-LG PRINT $9.99

NEW – A Bedtime Story by Mem Fox $14.58

MADONNA.BED TIME STORIES.PIANO.VOCAL.CHORDS.MUSIC BOOK $39.95

In the Light of the Moon and Other Bedtime Stories – Hardcover $3.49

Bedtime Stories and Rhymes (Mini Padded Treasuries) – Hardcover $3.57

The Great Big Book of Bedtime Stories Rhyme | Warren HB $26.43