New year, new habits.
I have a friend with whom I used to work at Kidsbooks who had a family routine that I admire: after supper most nights she would read aloud from the dinning table while her partner and daughter washed the dishes. They did this well into her daughter’s teen years.
We often read a story aloud at bedtime. What other regular times might be conducive to reading aloud? Sunday mornings? While you wait for lessons to start? Or, if it’s challenging to find a regular time, try to choose reading aloud as a spontaneous family activity, like on a sunny afternoon, laying on the grass in the park.
Continuing to read aloud to our children as they get older has a number of benefits:
- it supports their vocabulary development
- it allows you to engage in tricky conversations about difficult topics
- it maintains moments of closeness, physically and emotionally
- it models an ongoing reading life
There is some more good information in this post on the blog “Best Book for Kids.”
