Questions Parents Ask About Young Children's Reading Behaviors

Buy this book »

I've heard that it is important to read to your child. Why?

Children can develop the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values of proficient readers by listening to literature. Numerous research studies have concluded that reading aloud to children increases their reading achievement scores, listening and speaking abilities, letter and symbol recognition, ability to use more complex sentences, ability to understand language, concept development, and positive attitudes toward reading.

When should I begin reading to my child?

Your child started on the road to reading the day that you first held your newborn in your arms and sang a lullaby, bounced your baby on your knee in time to a nursery rhyme, or encouraged your toddler to point to pictures in a book and name them. Literature for the very young is not limited to books. Newborns have fully developed hearing and can listen to a lullaby; lullabies are literature. Babies delight in play rhymes like "This Little Piggy"; poetry is literature. Toddlers enjoy "point and say" with simple books; cardboard and cloth books with simple pictures are literature. Preschoolers delight in simple stories told aloud, such as "The Three Bears"; storytelling is literature. Literature is more than a quiet reading of a storybook with your child on your lap. Even the youngest child can begin to associate enjoyment with literature.

When will my child begin to read on her own?

According to researchers:

Reading is a continuum that began when your child first started to use language: it will continue well into adult life. Even though our culture presently dictates that formal reading should begin early, much research tells us that an informal beginning eventually produces more skilled and willing readers. The most important component of the reading process is learning to love and appreciate books. Recognition of individual words follows—but must never precede—this step. Another vital ingredient in reading successfully is the reader's background of experience. One of the most important functions of the early childhood teacher is to build on children's nonvisual experiences so that meaning can be attached to print. Oral language development is the third major area of reading instruction for young children. Phonetically decoding words is of no value to children when the words have no meaning. (Simmons & Brewer, 1984, p. 177)

Doesn't a child have to be ready to read?

It is common to say that the child must be ready to read. But the concept of reading readiness is outdated, mainly because it denies all of the preparation that leads up to reading. Learning to walk is a good analogy. Adults don't sit around waiting for the child to take those first steps; rather, adults lead, support, and coax the child. The same strategies apply to learning to read.

Is it a good idea to try to teach my child to read before he or she starts school?

If you interviewed parents whose children learned to read early, most of them would say, "I never really taught him; we just shared stories together and he sort of picked up reading on his own." A relaxed, informal introduction is just what the young child needs. Children need to be invited into the world of literature, not dragged. Sometimes parents try too hard and make reading drudgery. A better strategy is to adopt the same tolerant attitude toward language learning that we have about children's initial singing efforts. We don't panic when young children sing off-key or assume that they are doing irreparable damage to their musical development. Rather, we allow them to experiment, enjoy, and learn.