Read to Your Child Day

Every Day Should Be Read To Your Child Day! February 14^th every year is a day to remind parents to spend time reading with their children.

February 14th may be better known as Valentine's Day, but it has also become a day for the love of reading with Library Lovers Day, Giveaway Day, and Read Your Child's Day.

Read to your child! Monday, Saturday, every day, but especially today! It's Read Your Child Day, a holiday dedicated to the bonding experience of a parent-child reading session. February 14th is a dream for book lovers, is Library Lovers Day and Book Giveaway Day, so read on and keep going, True Believers!

History of Read to Your Child Day

Our research does not point to the creators of this holiday. The background information about Reading Day is scant, but not the reasoning behind its origin. Reading to children is one of the best ways to develop literacy and early childhood education. A study published by the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics found that reading to children one short book a day helped children hear 290,000 more words by the time they entered kindergarten compared with children who had no reading books regularly. Number that book up to five a day and their vocabulary grows to 1.4 million words. Jessica Logan, the study's lead author, said children with larger vocabularies are likely to learn reading skills at a faster rate. Growing up with books can also improve reading comprehension, math skills, and communication. Science has also found that reading can prolong life, reduce stress, boost creativity, and make you more empathetic.

How to Celebrate Read to Your Child Day

Here are some things you can try with your younger readers

• Read them a childhood favorite. What you attract when you read can do the same for them!
• Be creative in your reading. Act out the story as you read, voice over, let your child play one of the characters, hold a dictionary in hand and ask them to look up words they don't know and ask open-ended questions about what they think will happen next.
• Create bookmarks or book covers decorated with hand-drawn art or pictures from magazines.
• Write a story together and identify the ones your child likes best.
• Check with your local library or bookstore for show times that you and your child can join together.

Whichever way you choose to celebrate, the most important thing to remember is that Reading Children's Day is a bonding opportunity. You will not only instill in your children a healthy cognitive habit, but you will also instill in them a longstanding interest that will open their minds to the many wonderful areas of writing.