Why Reading is Good for Kids and Adults Alike

My daughter is just learning to read, and I told her that when she does, she will never be bored again. Books can open up so many doors for us in our lives. We can learn about anything we want, and find entertainment through a vast array of stories.

There are many benefits to reading, not just for kids, but for adults too. Learn how reading can enrich your quality of life.

Benefits of reading for children

Reading is one of the foundational educational skills for children. In order to be able to learn other subjects, kids need to be able to read. This way, their textbooks can be easily understood in their other subjects. When kids can't read well, it can negatively impact their overall educational achievement.

According to the Children's Bureau, here are 7 benefits of reading to children:

• Supported cognitive development

• Improved language skills

• Preparation for academic success

• Developing a special bond with your child

• Increased concentration and discipline

• Improved imagination and creativity

• Cultivating a lifelong love of reading

Even before your child can read on their own, reading to them can be great for their brain development, as well as providing other benefits too. Kids who read with their parents learn the value of reading early in life. This teaches them that reading can be fun, in addition to just something they do for school.

Taking time to read your child a bedtime story every day can help teach your child a love of reading, as well as providing quality time together. You can start off your toddler with reading age-appropriate chubby board books, and then move up to more complicated stories.

Reading with your child can also help to encourage their interests. When my daughter was little, she was fascinated with bugs. Every week, we would go to the library and check out a book about a different type of bug, until she had worked their way through all of them.

When you teach your child to explore their interests through books, you give them a powerful tool to learn about anything that interests them. This way, they can learn about all different things, whether you yourself know anything about it or not. Allowing them to pursue their own interests is a great way of fostering their creativity as well.

Benefits of reading for adults

As an adult, there are many benefits to reading for you as well. In addition to modeling good behavior for your children by showing your own love of reading, it is great for you in so many other ways.

According to Blinklist, here are 7 ways that reading can benefit you:

1. Reading slows the progress of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease

2. Reading reduces stress and relaxes you

3. Reading improves focus and concentration

4. Reading can reduce depressive thoughts

5. Reading makes you more empathetic

6. Reading improves your general knowledge

7. Reading boosts sleep quality

By reducing stress, anxiety and depression, reading improves your mental health. It is good to curl up with a good book and turn off your screens for a while. Get lost in a story, or learn something new. Not only is reading great for you, but so is the reduced screen time that happens as a result.

Since you are more relaxed after reading, it is good to read a book before bed. But even if you are reading at another time during the day, you can still improve your sleep quality by reading. In this busy world of ours, who doesn't need a better night's sleep? When you improve your sleep, you improve your overall health as well, so this is an added benefit of reading.

Reading keeps you mentally active. Instead of doing something passive like watching TV, reading keeps you engaged. This can help to keep you mentally agile and reduces your Alzheimer's risk, as well as improving your focus and concentration for daily tasks.

In addition to all these benefits, reading helps you learn new information, new skills, and allows you escape into a juicy novel. There are hundreds of books out there, just waiting for you to dig into them today!

According to Basmo,

So, even though when it comes to reading, the more the better is one of the truest things you can say, most of us will have to settle for a lot less. Luckily for us, a Yale research reviewing 12 years worth of data from the University of Michigan’s Health and Retirement Study has revealed that as little as 30 minutes of reading every day has the potential of extending our life by a little over two years. 

Many famous and successful people extol the benefits of reading in their own lives as well. When you see that reading is correlated with success, it shows just how much of an impact reading can make in all our lives.

Whether it is reading with your kids, or reading for yourself, opening up a book can take you on a journey to somewhere new, help you explore the world, and also provide a host of other benefits.