It seems that in a lot of houses things like reading to the kids, art projects and other of gentler interests default to the mom. Give the kids a basketball and dad is all over it. Ask him to read anything mentioning a sparkly pony and dad can not be found. It is a stereotype and if the reading to the kids role is reversed in your house, then just change the dad to mom in the title.
In reality, both parents should read to the kids. In fact, any adult or sibling that you can find should read to the kids for several reasons.
Variety of voice
When I studied Arabic at the Defense Language Institute, each class was taught by a group of native speakers; people from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, etc. They tried to mix each teaching team to have each teacher for a class be from a different country and to have both male and female teachers. The reason was to force the students to get used to hearing the language spoken with different accents, tones and paces. It is very easy to get used to understanding the way almost any one person talks. If you don’t believe me, ask yourself why you always have to explain what your two year old said when your neighbor is around. We all get used to certain tones and accents. Having as many people as possible reading to your kids will broaden their ear and increase their comprehension.
Double reinforcement
If mom thinks reading is cool, the kids might decide it is worthwhile. When dad also jumps on the bandwagon, the kids start to really think there must be something to this reading thing. The more people that seem interested in reading will keep reinforcing that reading is something important and enjoyable.
Keeps dad involved
Literature is hugely important to kids. They love nursery rhymes and silly lines in Dr. Seuss stories. They also like to use those lines during the day. If you are not reading those stories with the kids, you are not going to know why it is so funny to growl the word “Rrrrrusty” and you will be delegated to an outside observer of an important part of your kids’ language development.
Bonding moment
In addition to just knowing what your kids are talking about, reading stories is a bonding moment. The physical closeness of story time and the cuddling are going to bring you closer to your kids. You will end up tickling them more often. You will end up hugging them more often. You will stroke their hair more often. That’s called bonding and your kids will love you for it.
Teach kids how to be calm
I read an article a while back about one of the important roles that dads teach their children. Dads are the one who normally wrestle with the kids and tickle them until they beg for mercy and toss them in the air. Dads get kids riled up. When the playtime is over, dads show their kids how to calm back down. Ask any kindergarten teacher how important and how difficult of a lesson this is to teach to a young boy or girl. Reading is a very sedentary, calm event. If the guy that just had them giggling and gasping for breath can now sit still with a book on his lap, your kids are going to learn how to do that, also.
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Every so often, I am reminded why your blog is at the top of my daily reads. This article is yet another reminder.
Wonderful job.
I rarely pass on blog articles to my friends and loved ones. Your blog is one of the most recommended.
DH doesn’t read to the girls as much as he should. I should have him read this! Great post!
Great post! My little guy loves to have his daddy read to him.
Great post! Having been a single mom for a number of years, I read to my boys all the time. Since I’ve gotten remarried and we’re all older now — we do have our family reading time at least a couple of times a week.
No one should ever underestimate the power of reading to and with your kids.
absolutely.
I love reading to my kids (5 and 7 years). Sad to think a lot of guys don’t – is that really true?
My kids speak Dutch natively, I speak English with them. I taught the eldest to read English. She’s doing great! Ain’t that cool?
As a divorced dad, I call my six-year-old daughter nightly to read chapters. I think I look forward to it even more than she does!
I love the section about “voice.” Our favorite thing on long road trips is to get a book on CD and all listen together. Even the youngest children are entertained for hours if they’re used to being read to.
Loved this one! So proud of the job you are doing with your kids!
very good article!
i would like to suggest a topic for future articles: how about recommended books to read to kids. my baby doesn’t seem to be too interested in my dramatic reading of JRR Tolkien’s Silmarillion…
Chudez, that is a great idea. I’ll get to work on that. You baby must be saved by Silmarillion.
My wife and I take turns doing bedtime which includes reading chapter books. We have been through the whole trilogy of Tolkien as well as Douglas Adams Hitchhiker’s Guide and more. The kids usually take over the reading and read ahead between bedtimes.
i just clicked onto this page and having read the paragraph about why dads should takea more active role in reading too there kids i can only agree i read too my kids on a daily basis not only at bed times any time of the day we dont have a set time and i like some of the others that have left comments here i really enjoy reading the books too the kids and often encourage the kids too try reading the book back too me i gotta admit my kids reading in class has come on quite a bit better than the average ( meaning ) the two middle children are in reading groups beyond there age group i also find my 8 yr daughter often reads books too my 3 yr old little girl too whilst playing in there room
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My partner’s least favourite book to read our daughter is “How to be a Ballerina” – but he does it if she chooses it.
He groans, but she just laughs and hands it to him.
Getting to this post a little late but I love it. My wife and I try to alternate days between our two kids so that they each get stories from Mom and stories from Dad.
I love having the time to read to my kids and really regret the nights that I do not get home in time for story time.