Reading benefits your child’s health

A benefit to your child’s health may be gathering dust on your bookshelf. Research shows that benefits of reading includes stronger mental and emotional health and can increase your child’s linguistic skills by up to 42%.

By creating an environment that treasures stories and encourages children to read, you’re helping them create a lifelong love of reading—and strengthening their mental health while you do so.

Benefits of reading

Cracking open the pages of a book is a direct portal to another world. The author’s imagination spills out and readers find themselves in a new land, full of adventures. Reading is a chance to slow down and allow the body to rest, while also sharpening the mind, lowering stress, and diving headfirst into a storyline. 

• Reading opens up the world. By reading about people who are different, children (and adults) are able to see things in a new light and relate to new people, building the important skill of empathy.
• Reading improves vocabulary. A study by the UCL Institute of Education found that teenagers who read in their spare time knew 26% more words than their peers, and teens coming from a “book-loving home” knew 42% more words.
• Reading reduces stress. Reading can lower heart rates and reduce stress. A 2009 study from Mindlab International at the University of Sussex discovered that by reading, participants reduced stress levels by 68%. This might not seem like a big deal for kids but providing positive coping mechanisms for stress now will set them up for future success.
• Reading helps you sleep better. Taking time to read before your child goes to bed allows their brain to slowly turn off—and helps keep them away from electronic devices that can impede their sleep schedule.
• Reading keeps your brain sharp. Studies have found that reading may slow mental decline and reduce the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. By creating a lifetime habit of reading, your child will be 32% less likely  to experience mental decline.

Children’s book themes

As a Christian, diving into children’s book themes with your child is another benefit of reading. Allegories (a story meant to be a picture of a deeper truth) like Pilgrim’s Progress can help us understand something new or different about our faith that we’ve struggled to understand before, or to see the world in a new light. Through stories, whether allegories or not, it can be easier to talk about subjects that you otherwise might not have discussed.

As you read the Chronicles of Narnia, you can discuss how Edmund was tempted by the White Witch or the forgiveness that Aslan extends to him. El Deafo can open conversations about disability and how to be God’s light to people who struggle with different things. With The Hiding Place, you can talk about the price of doing the right thing and yet how God remains steadfast through it all.

Good reading for children

When children read, they get a better grasp of language and writing skills, building empathy, and learning how to be creative. By reading together, you’re creating a core memory as you explore creative themes together and help them foster a love of books.

Here are some books to share with your children: