Is reading to your newborn worth the time? It can be a battle just to keep them comfortable in your arms while you hold the book and turn its pages. Even if you manage to sit and read, its not like your baby is engrossed in the rising action or grasping the moral. Now I am not specialist in newborn education, but I believe there is more going on than your little guy drooling on the pages during reading time.
The main goal here is not to teach your baby to read, but teach them to love the reading experience.
By making reading time a routine part of your day, your baby will grow accustomed to the experience. The first few times might not be enjoyable, but soon your posture, reading voice, and their position in relation with you and the book will all be familiar to your baby. Over time this will be a comfortable experience. Creating a comfortable atmosphere is critical to teaching and learning. Reading at home with your baby is no different.
Babies may not know what is happening in the story, but they realize you are having some sort of exchange with the pages. As they grow this will spark their curiosity and will want to imitate your behavior.
Reading is a slower form of stimulation. If children are only exposed to flashy, fast-paced media, they will have a difficult time transitioning to activities that provide only minor amounts of stimulation but demand a moderate level of concentration. Don’t get me wrong, there is a time and place for the fun games and educational programs that some cartoons and apps offer, but nothing can replace reading.
Do you need to read to your newborn everyday? No, but it is something you want to do more often than not. For a newborn, establishing a routine trumps all. Don’t mess up bedtime by trying to force a reading session. Make reading a goal and work towards it. If it take a couple of months don’t fret about it is taking too long. Place value on reading and it will happen.
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