Reading to Your Baby is a Wonderful Activity
There are numerous benefits of reading to newborns. Even though your newborn baby may not understand the words that you’re speaking, reading to your baby is a wonderful shared activity that will boosts your emotional connection to your child and it promotes your baby’s intellectual well being.
Since your newborn doesn’t understand any words yet, you are welcome to read anything that you want. You can read a children’s book or your favorite chick-lit novel. You can even read newspaper columns. You can read anything you want, and it will still have awesome benefits for baby.
1. Reading Introduces Concepts and Builds Vocabulary Words
Regardless of whether you’re reading a children’s picture book or a magazine article, the act of reading teaches your newborn a lot about communication. One major benefit of reading to your newborn is that it introduces important concepts (like numbers, letters, stories, shapes, etc.) in a fun and interactive way. Reading to your newborn also helps build his or her vocabulary, memory and listening skills. The more stories and books that you read to your newborn, the better his or her vocabulary as he grows up.
2. Reading Helps with Social and Emotional Development
Another benefit of reading to newborns is that reading fosters his or her social and emotional development. When you read to your newborn, it encourages him or her to look, point, touch and wonder about the world around him. All of this helps foster thinking and social skills. As your newborn gets older, he or she will begin to imitate sounds and eventually learn new words. The more exposure your baby has to your native language, the easier learning new words will be.
3. Reading Combines Strange Words and Emotions
When a mother reads to her newborn, her baby is exposed to the feelings and emotions that come with different words. For example, when reading a picture book, a mom may have a high-pitched tone when the story gets exciting and a more solemn tone when the story hits a sad mark. As your newborn ages, he or she will learn to associate different feelings with the different words. This also helps with vocabulary learning.
4. Reading to Your Newborn Makes Bonding Easier
One of the most important benefits of reading to newborns is that it strengthens the connection between mom and baby. Babies have a soft spot for their mother’s voice (newborns actually recognize their mother’s voice immediately following birth), so when a mom is reading to her baby, her child is comforted and soothed. Mom will enjoy this one-on-one activity and the intimate feelings it brings her. She will love her baby more as a result.
5. Babies Will Learn that Reading is Fun
When you read to your child from an early age, he or she begins to view reading as a family routine. Reading is something to be enjoyed. It’s not a hassle or a chore. Fostering a love of reading starting from infancy can develop into a wonderful lifelong passion.
With all of these awesome benefits of reading to newborns, why wouldn’t you read to your baby? Thank-you for reading this post. Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section below.