The Importance of Reading: Children benefit greatly by being read to by a parent. This develops a child’s vocabulary. Your child will be motivated and encouraged to read as he or she come to associate these good times and closeness with a parent with books and reading.
How much time spent reading do children need?
We recommend at least 20 minutes a night.
Neuroscientist Sally Shaywitzt makes a case for the benefits
of reading a minimum of 20 minutes a day as follows:
| Student A | Student B | Student C |
| Reads: | Reads: | Reads: |
| 20 minutes/day | 5 minutes/day | 1 minute/day |
| 3600 minutes/school year | 900 minutes/school year | 180 minutes/school year |
| Exposed to:
1,800,000 words |
Exposed to:
282,000 words |
Exposed to:
8,000 words |
| 90th percentile | 50th percentile | 10th percentile |
By the end of primary school:
Student A has read the equivalent of 60 whole school days.
Student B has read for 12 school days
It takes Student C a year to read as many words as Student A does in two days.
Naturally Student A will have a better vocabulary and comprehension skills. Reading teaches vocabulary. Simply relying on conversation to increase vocabulary falls short of what can be gained through reading.