Reading is an essential skill that lets us unlock meaning from written words—and a brighter future.
Reading is the way we gain meaning from the written word. Take a moment to think about what goes into the simple act of reading. Every day, we encounter written words—on a page, a screen, or even a highway billboard—and we quickly grasp their meaning.
(Spoiler alert: you’re doing it right now!)
But it wasn’t always this way for most of us. Understanding the words on a page is a vital skill that takes time to master. Without basic reading skills, a child is likely to struggle in school. On the other hand, children who develop strong literacy skills are capable of learning about anything they choose—with your help at first, but soon as independent readers!
When we give our children the tools to learn to read, we’re setting them up for future success in life. Beyond that, we’re also investing in their growth today. Research has proven that reading helps support a child’s ongoing brain development. These brain-boosting benefits of reading include developing a larger vocabulary, improving memory, increasing comprehension, and strengthening analytical skills. In short: the ability to read can make kids smarter!¹
Literacy skills begin long before a child picks up a book. From the moment they’re born, babies are natural language learners. An infant’s brain is wired to learn any of the more than 7,000 languages spoken around the world. Toddlers can even learn to speak more than one language at a time! Each time you talk to your child, you’re helping them acquire spoken language instinctively. You’ve probably had those moments when your child suddenly bursts out with a new word or phrase that you didn’t realize they knew. How did that happen? It’s simple: they’ve been listening.
But unlike spoken communication, the ability to read is a skill that must be taught. That’s why, as part of their training to become teachers, educators learn about the science of reading. If you’ve heard the term before, you might think it is a specialized instructional program. In reality, it’s the term given to scientifically based research about how people learn to read. As a parent, you don’t have to be a trained educator to play a key role in this area of your child’s development. Knowing a bit about it and the five main pillars of reading will help you enhance your child’s learning.
The ability to identify and work with the sounds in spoken words
The ability to decode—or sound out—words by connecting letters with the sounds they make
The ability to understand and use a variety of words
The ability to read accurately, at a normal speed, and with expression
The ability to read a text and understand its meaning
Learning to read is a complex process. As a parent, teaching your child basic reading skills can feel overwhelming. But fortunately, getting started is simple: read stories aloud to your child whenever you can and let them look at books on their own.
Reading to babies is a wonderful way to enhance their language skills, while giving them soft cloth or sturdy board books to touch, explore, and even chew on will help them develop a positive relationship with books.
As your child grows, make reading aloud a part of your daily routine—whether it’s a bedtime story or as part of some quiet downtime. Even the simplest books can add to a child’s growing vocabulary because the words we read in books are often different than the words we use in our daily lives. Your child may ask for a favorite story to be read again (and again and again) as they learn the flow and patterns of language. Reading aloud also improves your child’s ability to gain meaning from—or comprehend—stories. All this before they learn their ABCs.
At some point, your child will begin to understand that the squiggly marks on the page—the letters—represent specific sounds. At this stage you might run your finger under the words as you read aloud or point to specific letters. Later, when your child has a firm grasp of letter sounds, they will be ready to put the sounds together to form words. Be patient—these skills take lots of practice!
Eventually, they should recognize simple words automatically, which will make them faster and better readers over time. As your child begins to read on their own, ask questions about what they are reading and continue to make reading time a key part of your family’s daily life. You can nurture their growth as a reader—because getting started as a reader is something that should never stop.
You can encourage your child’s interest in learning to read without ever opening a book. For example, try pointing out letters that you see when you’re out and about with your child. Challenge them to find the first letter of their name on shop signs, or even on cereal boxes in your kitchen.
You can also play game that don’t involve letters at all. You can play rhyming word games or clap along with the words to a song. These activities help your child to develop phonological awareness, which helps them work with the sounds in spoken language. When children can hear and break works into individual sounds, they find it easier to match those sounds to letters.
Another way to support your child is to help them connect the real world to what they see on a page. Heading out to a local farm or orchard? You might read a story about apple picking and then talk about it. Can they recognize any similarities and differences between their experience and the book? A trip to the supermarket is especially ripe with opportunities to connect things they’ve seen in books with their real-life experiences. Focus on topics that interest your child: dinosaurs, puppies, trucks—anything that will add to their enthusiasm and curiosity. By giving your child a deeper understanding of a topic, you’re not only stimulating their imagination, but you’re also helping them to build background knowledge. This will be a key component of reading comprehension in their future.
A child’s academic success is often predicted by the support they receive at home. That’s why one of the best ways to engage your child’s desire to learn is to intentionally build a culture of reading at home and model the joy of reading. By showing your child how enjoyable books can be, you can inspire them to learn—and love—to read, too.
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