Many pediatricians emphasize the importance of reading for children of different ages: what are the benefits for psychological and emotional development.
The importance of reading for children of different ages
An adult who reads aloud to a child performs an act of love, and this has important implications for the development of the child's personality on a relational, emotional, cognitive, linguistic, social and cultural level. In the shared experience of reading and listening, adult and child enter into mutual harmony through the worlds that come to life between the pages of the book, in an intense and pleasant communication made of emotion, friendship, complicity, trust, which strengthens their emotional bond.
The Importance of Reading for Children: Why Read to Children
· From an emotional point of view, reading a story or a nursery rhyme to a child allows him to explore his most intimate emotions in the company of adults who can contain him, reassure him, provide him with explanations.
· From a cognitive point of view, reading offers the child an alternative channel of knowledge, in addition to direct experience; favors the understanding of oneself and the world around him; broadens the mind to discovery and exploration; develops imagination, imagination, creativity, curiosity; expand memory; enhances logical and abstractive skills.
· On the linguistic level, reading stimulates language development, enriches vocabulary, improves lexical quality.
From a social point of view, it is demonstrated that the importance of reading for children operated by the preschool family, have better academic performance, social inclusion, problem solving skills, which acquires even more value for children from families with socio-cultural disadvantage, in which the difficulty of reading and writing contributes to the risk of dropping out of school, with an increase in poverty and marginalization.
· The importance of reading for children from a cultural point of view has been seen as one of the channels for the passage of values, ethical messages and traditions from one generation to another.
Reading aloud is the most effective way to get a child to love books and stories. The importance of reading for children lies in nourishing him with words, first developing pleasure and desire in him and then the autonomous ability to read. The importance of reading for children is one of the primary care of the child.
The availability of books at home, familiarity with their contact, the example of parents who read, the habit of telling, discussing, exchanging ideas and advice on the topics being read, are all valid strategies to stimulate children.
To tickle interest and curiosity, the book must become in their hands a magical and tempting tool, capable of introducing them to the symbolic world that is contained in its pages, through the relationship with the adult who proposes it. A world made up of emotions, joys, fears, fantasies, affections, events, discoveries, like the very universe of the child. It is important to know how to read not "to" the child but "with" the child.
The importance of reading for young children
Depending on age, and therefore on the stages of psychomotor development, there are books and reading methods that are more suitable.
In the very young child, of a few months, the importance of reading for children who is very sensitive to sound, rhythm, melody, rhythmic voice, the first readings will be lullabies, spiel, nursery rhymes, songs, words or phrases with a well-marked rhythm to lull, caress, pamper with the music of words.
From 6 to 12 months , the importance of reading for children concerns the beginning of the proposal of some small books, sturdy and easy to handle as toys, of dimensions and materials suitable for tactile and oral as well as visual exploration, but always accompanied by words uttered aloud, so that the importance of reading for children is associated with the memory of the story.
From 12 to 24 months , the importance of reading for children, who will be attracted to books with large colorful illustrations, figures with sharp outlines, crisp colors and animated books that move, play, compose, easy to browse and with stories easy to listen to and listen to again, which re-propose the crucial moments of the day (waking up, eating, bathing, sleeping, playing), offering temporal references that reassure him.
The importance of reading for children at this age can be a harbinger of sensory (tactile, visual, auditory) but also emotional (surprise, fear) and moral (educational messages) experiences. It is good that reading becomes a fixed appointment, a ritual of even a few minutes, that the child expects and desires, for example before the afternoon nap, after meals or at good night. The importance of reading for children must be a pleasure , not an obligation, for example if the child loses concentration or moves away, don't insist; the habit of listening will then gradually increase the attention capacity. Changing the tone of voice and the rhythm of the narration, giving voice and mimicry to the different characters, allowing the child to look at the pictures and turn the pages while reading, makes the story more alive and increases interest
The importance of reading for child at the nursery
From 2 to 3 years old , the importance of reading for children changes because the child will no longer limit himself to just listening to the voice and looking at the figures, but will learn to associate the spoken words with the signs of writing, thus entering the magical world of writing. In this age group he is bewitched by stories that, having children or animals as protagonists, with few words and in a few pages, respond to his inexhaustible curiosity about the world and things and help him to solve the little big problems of every day. Often the child will want to turn the pages by himself, complete the sentence of a story he knows, point out the pictures and say what they represent, hold the book in his hand and tell the story in his own way, always read and reread the same book to which he is he is particularly fond of, to the point of remembering exactly the beginning, development and end, with an important reassuring and structuring function of the memory.
The importance of reading for children in kindergarten
From 3 to 6 years of age the importance of reading for children who love series with the same characters (their peers or an animal with human feelings they can identify with) involved in different situations that can interest them, inform them, excite them and help them overcome obstacles and fears. The child must be encouraged to interact with the story by asking questions, proposing comments and solutions, modifying evolution and can be encouraged to create, decompose and invent new stories based on the old ones, to uncover thoughts, emotions and fantasies.
The importance of reading for 6 year olds
From the age of 6 onwards, the importance of reading for children will become more and more autonomous, but reading together with the adult retains its great value as an irreplaceable moment of communication, discussion and growth. Children are very interested in books that explain the wonders of nature and science, in laboratory texts that teach "how to do it", in series of adventures or fantastic and thrillers that help them to face even the most serious problems with serenity. adults, waiting for the happy ending after so many adversities. Gradually, the child accustomed to reading will be curious about everything that happens to him, from the daily to the weekly, from the comic book to the fiction book, to the essay.
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