Children are ready to go to school when they can attend or listen to what someone else is saying, learn and participate in structured situations such as story reading and focus in and listen to one central person in the classroom. Reading to a child is great way to prepare a pre-schooler for the school environment. On a higher level, children will get used to hearing stories and following sentences. This will be very helpful when they start to learn about grammar and sentence structure.

 

Reading also helps with:

 

Language and speech development: Reading to a child makes it easier for him/her to develop speech.

 

Vocabulary and pronunciation: By looking at a picture in a book or a word and then hearing how it is pronounced out loud, children can learn new words along with their pronunciation.

Bonding time: Reading to a child is also an ideal opportunity for a parent to spend some time with their child. Reading time can be perceived as "their time!"
 

Establish a routine: Reading to children before bed time becomes a nice pre-bed time ritual or routine. Children tend to have an easier time going to sleep if there is a set routine. For example: brushing the teeth, have a story read to them and then fall sleep.