Do you read to your children? It seems that this has almost become a lost art. It is so much easier to turn on the television and put them in front of it or to give them your iPad to play with. Family movie nights are great but I am suggesting something else. Why not, instead of always watching a movie together, read a book together?
There are at least four important reasons why you should be reading to your children:
1. It stimulates their imagination. Nothing gets our imagination going like reading a good story. Television and movies are good but they tend to tell us and show us everything. Great fiction forces us to create pictures and a storyboard in our minds. When children hear a story, they have to use their imaginations like they never will watching TV.
2. It provides quality time with our children. We are all busy with so many things. Time with our children is often one of the first things that gets neglected in our hectic lifestyles. Creating the habit of reading to our children gives us some great time together and will create memories that will stay with them forever.
3. Reading to our children will give them a love for reading. Why read a book today when we can just wait until the movie comes out? This seems to be the prevailing view our society. Helping our children develop a love for books is one of the greatest life skills we can impart to them. “Leaders are readers.” If we want our children to make a difference in the world, let’s start equipping them early on with a love for reading.
4. It will very likely help them in school. Reading to our kids is going to help them to have a broader world view, better critical thinking skills, and an exposure to differing viewpoints. Of course, when they are young, you can focus on reading books that highlight important skills such as reading and counting. As they get older, though, you can begin to expose them to some great works of literature that they will enjoy but will also educate them in other ways.
If you can start reading to your children when they are young, you will be helping them on so many levels. We all want our kids to do well in life. Reading to them and helping them develop a love for books is something that is going to help them for the rest of their lives.
In the next issue, I will share some of the books that I read to my daughters as they were growing up. Make sure you tune in! If you subscribe up at the top right, every post will be sent right to your inbox.
Annie and I are serving the Lord in Brazil. We are training leaders and helping plant churches. God is doing so much here and we would love to have you on our team. Just click here to get involved. Obrigado!
