Read

Make Reading a Priority

It is very important to read to your baby from the time they are born. Reading aloud is a fun way to spend quality time with your children and it prepares their brains to know vocabulary, love reading and become better learners. Reading struggles in school are reduced for children who are read to by caregivers during the early years of life. Motivation, curiosity, and memory functioning are all positively impacted when a child is read to during the formative early years of life. Reading aloud to your child is simply one of the best things you can do for his or her future.

What Can Parents and Caregivers Do?

• Read to your child every day. Reading and talking teaches them the sounds of language.
• When you read to your child, hold him/her on your lap, it’s comforting and tells them that they are loved.
• Children love repetition, repeating the same book with help your child make the connection between the written page and the spoken word.
• Point to pictures and ask questions. Use expression when you talk and the baby will learn to use expression in their own vocalizations.
• Have a variety of books in the house, and for a budget-free approach, visit the library. Libraries offer story times, book recommendations, early literacy activities, and of course, hundreds and hundreds of books free of cost.
• If you would like to make sure your child is ready to read, sign up for the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program at any of Marathon County Public Libraries nine locations. They will give you a fun and easy way to track the books you read aloud, cheer you along the 1000 book journey towards reading readiness, and provide book recommendations.