Most parents are familiar with the benefits, both intellectual and relational, that stem from reading aloud to their children. However, what you may not know is that these benefits begin at birth and are not at all contingent on baby understanding the material that is read. The sound of a familiar voice, the bonding of a shared experience, the exposure to broad vocabulary and complex sentence structure — all of these help to build and strengthen baby’s rapidly developing brain.
When my oldest was born, I read to him constantly. Not little board books with pictures of socks and toy boats — actual books. I read to him from novels for my book club and classics I was reading (or re-reading) for my own enjoyment. I read to him from How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Bulfinch’s Mythology, Gardner’s Art Through the Ages. You know, the good stuff.
When my second son was born, I also had a two-year-old on hand, and his tastes ran more toward Dr. Seuss and Mo Willems. While we still read a lot, we didn’t read the kind of lengthy, richly-worded material I might have chosen for myself. However, as I am now onto my third little one, I’m making an effort to get back to longer, more sophisticated read alouds, both for her benefit and for my own intellectual stimulation. We’ve begun with a couple of children’s classics from Frances Hodgson Burnett: The Secret Garden and A Little Princess –– books I haven’t read since my own girlhood and am thoroughly enjoying. Next I’ve got my eye on a book of poetry and perhaps a bit of Shakespeare.
What do you read with your kids when you just can’t take one more round of Brown Bear, Brown Bear?