Bedtime stories: Why you should read to Children

One of the most pleasurable moments of the day for me and the wife is bedtime reading.

As any parents out there will agree, reading with your child is fun, and a great way to spend time together. Sharing books with your child helps open their eyes and minds to different people and situations, and stretches their horizons. And virtually every study shows that reading together increases children’s literacy skills, but also research also proves that children who enjoy reading do better at school in all subjects. Best of all, it helps to build a strong and loving relationship with your child.

I don't ever remember being read to, it may be that I blanked it out, but reading was never something my parents ever did for pleasure. And I do feel like I missed out. I only started to read, something more than a newspaper, when I started working in a bookshop. I was the stockroom guys, so I didn't really need to have a passion for travel writing or an interest in Evelyn Waugh to shift boxes.

But from that job, as a uni drop-out in the stockroom I became a bookseller, then worked for a book trade magazine and then finally working my way up to being a marketing manager for a book publishers. I don't know if my journey to where I am today would of happened sooner or if I may have taken a completely different path if reading was introduced to me at a younger age - but that one-to-one attention you get for reading together is hard to replace.  

Edward, my boy absolutely loves being read to, which come's in handy as my wife comes from a publishing background as well. It's about the only time of the day that Edward is quite and still, he is mesmerized by the pages and is seen a real treat. Hopeful this exposure to reading will lead him to great things, like getting a proper job, like a gas-fitter and not eking out a living on publishing wages.