Reading stories out aloud to kids must have been in fashion since the day man started reading and writing. We all love to read, or most of us do. Whatever the case, reading aloud has the perks of not only keeping you in the beneficial habit of reading, but also helps build a lot of positive aspects for your children. For instance, you would not drone throughout the story in the same monotonous tone and expression, would you? When it is a story, you are compelled to read in the expression the author intended his or her readers to read in. You would give pauses at commas and full stops; you would gasp when there is a dialogue of horror; you would raise your voice when someone shouts in the story; and you would whisper when someone whispers in the story. In other words, you would experience the entire story side by side with your children.
Now that certainly holds the element of interest for you. But what does it have in store for your children? Reading aloud has been proven to boost comprehension and listening capabilities of children. It promotes discussion about the story between the children and their parents. You tell your opinions and they tell their opinions and slowly, children realize that there can be more than one aspect in every story. It helps them look at the plot from different directions and raise questions about the characters.
Reading aloud also improves the attention. Some children are too absorbed in themselves and the present technology to read good books. Read aloud to them and you will find that they become more and more interested in books and become attentive to other things as well.
There is the additional perk of improvement of expression and vocabulary. When you pause or give expression, your children learn about the art of speaking and writing. They learn about the new words of literature. They learn about the different styles of writing and the versatile expressions in the literature. The children also see an example of what good reading should sound like. For example, ‘“Hey!” she said angrily’ will be read very differently from ‘“Don’t cry,” he whispered’. The first one would be read in a louder tone and with anger in the voice. The second one would be read very gently.
Reading aloud also improves the way your child speaks. As mentioned before, it improves the expression of the child. This is to say that the expression is improved not only in writing but also in speaking in everyday life. It would shape up the tone of your child.
You can read aloud anything. Stories, magazines or newspapers, all are good enough to create interest and to pose the above mentioned benefits. Reading is something we all like to do. Why not, as a parent, involve our kids in our interests and help them build up their inquisitive and creative side in this world of technology?
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