Reading Brings Wonderful Changes In The Child’s Brain
Did you know that reading is capable of causing amazing changes in children’s brains? Well, yes and from there part of the importance of promoting and caring for reading from an early age.
We all, in some way , keep in our memory those books that meant so much in our childhood. In fact, it is often said that the first readings will always be the best, an intense and exceptional life experience that our children also deserve to discover.
Sometimes, a mistake that is made in many educational centers in offering lists of “must read” to children. For a child to approach any activity, whether it is reading or not, it must be done through curiosity. There is no use in forcing.
The true way for a child to appreciate reading is by following your example, it is having around him a whole world of books to see, touch and smell from a very young age.
Reading awakens our brains
We do not want to go into now about when it is better to start teaching a child to read. As you already know, there are mothers and fathers who seek methods for their children to acquire the reading process between 3 or 4 years of age. They think that accelerating skills can make that child brighter tomorrow in his academic results.
It must be said that there are no conclusive studies on whether this works like this, on whether getting a child to read at 4 years of age will guarantee that their IQ is higher.
On the other hand, there is also that other trend integrated in many schools where reading does not begin until the age of 7.
Until then, discovery is encouraged through play, reasoning, and facilitating environments where the child’s natural growth is respected.
The importance of reading stories to babies
According to a study published in the journal “Pediatrics”, an ideal way to initiate children to reading is by reading to them from a very young age.
- It is almost astonishing, but just for a baby to listen very early to how their mother or father reads to them, a whole neural “revolution” is started in their brains that will prepare them tomorrow to be great readers.
- When a child hears a story read to him, his entire left hemisphere is activated very intensely. As we already know, the left hemisphere is where the area of articulated language, memory, logic and reasoning is concentrated.
- According to the director of the study, Dr. Horowitz-Kraus, c he further reads to the child, the neuronal connectivity is stimulated in those areas that, tomorrow, will facilitate the process of reading and writing.
Child readers: more agile and creative brains
Reading is like entering another world, it not only allows us to learn, discover and entertain ourselves. Reading allows us to relativize our reality and connect much better with the world because we develop our intuition and our critical sense.
- If during early childhood that baby enjoyed the stories his parents read to him, his left area will be more than ready to integrate the reading and writing process.
- Once this learning is acquired, it will be your right hemisphere that will benefit. We develop your imagination and your lateral thinking (reaching a solution through different, more original and less rigid ways).
- A child who reads is a person who manages his stress much better, and a brain without stress will always be more productive, creative and focused on the here and now.
Tips to encourage reading
- Place books in their environment. Let them touch them, look at them, smell them, and above all, let them see you read them.
- Before distracting your two-year-old with a video on the tablet, read him a story. Find moments to share short readings.
- Let the child choose his own books. It does not matter if you are more interested in the graphic novel or comics, they are also ideal means to love reading. In this sense, suggesting titles is not the same as forcing them to read them.
- Prepare visits to bookstores and do not hesitate to give them a library card. What they can achieve with it is something they will always thank you for.
