📚 Discover the Magic of Reading: Why Reading to Young Children is Important

Today in 5 minutes or less you'll learn:

• Does reading to young children really matter?

• Three ways to be more consistent reading with our kids

• Pictures of the completed Silver Lake Bison Farm chicken coop

• The toughest belts for men on earth handmade by veterans

As parents we regularly hear about the importance of reading to our young kids. But why exactly is that? And does it really matter?

The truth of the matter is that reading to our children is beneficial and goes far beyond literacy.

In fact, “just exposure to words is the single most important thing that you can do to help build the language pathways in your child’s brain,” says Laura Phillips, PsyD, the senior director of the Learning and Development Center at the Child Mind Institute.

According to research done at The Ohio State University kids who are read just one book a day will hear about 290,000 more words by age 5 than those who don’t regularly read books with a parent or caregiver.

Previous research has further found that one-fourth of children in a national sample were never read to and another one-fourth were seldom read to (one or two a week).

The benefits of reading to our children are numerous, but here are five to take note of.

1. Language development: Reading to young children helps in their language development. It exposes them to new vocabulary, sentence structures, and ideas that they may not encounter in everyday conversation. By hearing words in context, children begin to understand their meaning and can use them in their own speech.

2. Cognitive development: Reading to young children can also help with cognitive development. When children hear stories, they learn to follow a sequence of events, understand cause and effect, and use their imaginations to create mental pictures of what is happening in the story.

3. Improved literacy skills: Reading to young children can improve their literacy skills. It teaches them the fundamentals of reading such as letter recognition, phonics, and comprehension.

4. Bonding and socialization: Reading to young children can be a bonding experience for both parent and child. It provides an opportunity for cuddling, snuggling, and spending quality time together. It can also encourage socialization as children learn to listen and engage in conversations about the story.

5. Love for learning: Children who are read to regularly tend to do better academically. They have better language skills, improved comprehension, and are more likely to develop a love for learning. This can translate into success in school and beyond.

I’m interested to know how often our readers read to their young kids or grandkids. Take a moment to answer the anonymous poll below.

After a long day of work or being with the kids all day, taking the time to read to our children can feel like just one more thing we have to do. We’ve been there and still have those days. However, there have been a few things that have helped us be more consistent with reading to them.

1. Set a daily reading time: Choose a specific time of day that works for you and the kids to read together. It could be before bedtime, after breakfast, or during a designated reading time in the afternoon. For many, including us for now, it is before bedtime. Make it a part of your daily routine so that it becomes a habit and something that they look forward to each day.

2. Make it fun: Reading to our children should be a fun and enjoyable experience for both us and them. Choose books that your child is interested in and involve them in the reading process by asking them questions about the story, characters, and illustrations. Use different voices and sound effects to make the story come alive.

3. Keep books accessible: Make sure that books are easily accessible so that they can explore them on their own. We do this by keeping the books in a basket or on a book shelf on the wall. This way they can choose the books that they want to read. Take trips to the library or a bookstore to pick out new books and make it a fun outing. For example, our eight year old is just starting to read short chapter books. During one of our 1:1 daddy daughter dates we went to Barnes & Noble, and she picked out a horse book to take home to read.

Most importantly, you don’t have to be perfect. Like anything else there will be tough days and you may not be as consistent as you’d like. With five kiddos eight and under in our home we know how it can feel. This is something we are working on as well. The key is to be intentional, don’t give up, and try to just get a little bit better each day. As part of the Homestead Herd choose to face the “storm”! You got this!

Shameless plug… if you’re looking for a new book this summer to read to your children that instills the values of courage and leadership pre-order my book Bryson the Brave Bison today!

We recently received an update that our chicken coop, which is Amish built by KT Barns, is complete! They sent us a few pictures below.

I think I could move into this thing! It sure won’t be this clean for long. We will be keeping our young girls busy collecting eggs and managing the coop. We’re looking forward to getting things all set up over the summer, and will be sure to share our chicken journey with you.

This coop is 8×20 and will will hold up to 53 chickens. As mentioned on our previous newsletter the chicks have been ordered from Meyer Hatchery and will arrive in the coming months over the summer.

If you or a man in your life is sick of weak and poorly made belts than check out Mack Belts!

Mack Belts is founded by retired Navy SEAL Mack Alexander. Mack experienced a traumatic brain injury and was retired early from the SEAL Teams. At one point he found himself homeless and in a tough place.

In spite of those challenges Mack was never out of the fight. Starting with belts from local thrift store, he started making and selling dog collars. He enjoyed the skill of leather crafting and it brought him a sense of peace. He shared this newfound passion with other combat veterans and assembled the Mack Belts team.

What started in a tiny garage has now grown into a premium U.S.A. leather belt manufacturer with thousands of special operations veteran crafted belts being worn by patriots all over the world.

With every purchase a donation is made to active duty military and they are proudly built in the U.S.A.! Read more about his story here.

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