Recently, I read The American Academy of Pediatrics Releases New Policy on Reading to Kids During Infancy, a blog post by Sherry Huang from Parents.com. The AAP informs us how reading to your infant produces great results later on in life. The 5 R’s of early education, they explain, support healthy brain development. They also help prepare children for school later on in their young lives.

1. reading together

2. rhyming and playing with words

3. sitting consistent routines

4. rewarding with praise

5. development of strong relationships

I will say that I am not a big reader, but I enjoy reading to my daughter. When we sat down with some of her favorite books, she enjoyed the exciting tales of The Three Little Pigs or The Cat in the Hat. I’m not sure if she enjoys the pictures as much as the words, but we have a lot of fun either way. Some of my daughter’s favorite books now focus around the Disney Princesses as she got older. She’s obsessed with Cinderella and Snow White and Ariel from the Little Mermaid. These are stories we have read to children for years, and she never tires hearing them. As a stay-at-home dad, I find that it’s critical for me to be an active participant in my children’s education. This, thanks to my wife, started from birth. It is now something that professionals have brought to the forefront in child brain development.

There are some amazing benefits to reading to your babies.

· It strengthens bonding

· It increases language skills

· It improves vocabulary

· It boosts brain activity

· It fine tunes social and emotional recognition.

One of the best feelings that I get is when my daughter runs up to me with one of her books and asks me to read it. I know this started with images of us reading to her as a baby that she has some memory of experiencing.

There is an issue that we have today with low income families and their access to books. When you donate books, you give a chance for another child to engage in reading that may not have an opportunity. This is one of the reasons why we choose to donate books to various charitable organizations.

I enjoy taking my 2 year old to the bookstore also. It’s an adventure for us to take part in story time at Barnes & Noble. There’s also opportunities for some of the older children to read to service dogs at local bookstores as well. These are great low-to-no cost ways to get involved with reading with your child.