The magic of reading: How it helps children grow

It might also surprise you to learn that it is a legal requirement for prisons to have a library, but not schools. This has resulted in one in eight schools in the UK not having a school library, as reported by The Great School Libraries campaign. It is a requirement for schools to have books, but this could be a reading corner in a busy classroom and not provide the facility for children to take the books home or read quietly. 

If children don’t have regular access to books in their homes or schools, many of the next generations will grow up without access to something that can help create a better society. This might sound like a slightly farfetched point, but we have to remember that books aren’t just a pastime or a form of media that sits alongside television or videos on our phones. 

The research into the benefits of reading has been extensive and stretches far beyond literacy:  

• Reading helps develop empathy by allowing us to step inside a character’s mind.
• As we read, our brains believe this is a real-life situation, and it trains us to put ourselves in the position of another as our brains are experiencing it, not just learning it.  Empathy is an important skill as it allows us to get along and work with others.
• When our brain ‘lives’ an experience, it forms new neural pathways. Therefore, reading exercises our brain and expands its capabilities.
• Children who read are more creative and have better imaginations as they have experienced other lives and worlds.
• Reading is a more powerful factor in life achievement than socio-economic background.
• Higher literacy levels can affect achievement at school and therefore expand job opportunities.

Reading is also something that has to be taught to children, unlike speaking. Because it is something that children have to work at, it often needs to be encouraged as well. The Book Trust’s 2022 Family Survey found that shared reading begins to decline at age 4, with 70% of parents reading to their children at this age, which drops to 55% at 6 and 7.

Benefits of ‘Shared Reading’

Understandably, you might point out that children will often be able to read independently by this age. However, there is strong evidence that continuing to read to our children until they are teenagers encourages them to be lifelong readers. For example, Nielsen Book Research’s annual survey found that 74% of 8 to 13-year-olds who are read to each day will also read for pleasure, compared to 29% of those who were read to less than once a week.

The additional benefit of shared reading is that it helps our children develop a secure attachment with us. These secure attachments impact a child’s happiness and ability to form relationships and develop social skills. The BookTrust’s research confirms that young children who are read to sleep longer and that reading leads to improved social skills, improved attention, and fewer negative behaviours in children.

If a child is a ‘reluctant reader’, along with ‘shared reading’, you can also use a coaching approach to help encourage and motivate them to read more.     

For example, here is a simple goal setting reading challenge:-

1. Encourage the child to pick a book that they would like to read.
2. Decide with them a goal for them to read a certain number of pages or chapters, this can be a daily or weekly goal.
3. Ensure that the goal they set I realistic and achievable, so they don’t get demotivated.
4. Create a visual aid to track progress towards the goal, for example, a chart with stickers or even something more creative.
5. Make sure you celebrate milestones along the way with them, this could be completing a certain number of pages/chapters. For example, they get a small treat or privilege.
6. When they complete the challenge, then you can celebrate their accomplishment with a bigger reward, such as a special day trip or activity.
7. Reflect on the experience with the child by asking them how they felt about the challenge and whether it helped them enjoy reading more.

You can then encourage them to set future reading goals and continue to track their progress.

If we find that we are not reading as much as we wished, perhaps this International Children’s Book Day we can set a goal ourselves to commit to reading to our own children and those within our care – developing and reigniting our passion for reading together!

 References:

• Billington, J, (2015) Reading between the Lines: the Benefits of Reading for Pleasure Quick Reads University of Liverpool
• Berns, G. (2013) Short- and Long-Term Effects of a Novel on Connectivity in the Brain
• BookTrust (2022) Research on Reading
• Sullivan and Brown (2013) Social inequalities in cognitive scores at age 16: The role of reading

If encouraging and inspiring children to grow, learn and become more confident in all aspects of their lives is something that appeals to you, have you considered a career coaching in education?  

Why not join us for our free Introduction to Life Coaching webinar? Plus, our free follow-up session: Insight into Coaching Within Education which shares insight to our Coaching within Education coaching qualification.