![Reading Boosts Your Child’s Superpowers_web A girl reading a book, sitting on a fluffy pink pouff, under a white tulle canopy](https://kidsreconnect.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Reading-Boosts-Your-Childs-Superpowers_web.png)
Reading is an educational tool and plays a fundamental role in their overall development.
Here are five research-based ways in which reading emPOWERS kids
with life skills (Superpowers!) to help them grow and thrive.
- Reading enhances cognitive development.
Reading stimulates brain development, especially in young children. When kids engage with books, they practice critical thinking and comprehension skills. According to a study published in the journal Pediatrics, children who are read to at home show significantly higher activation in brain areas supporting mental imagery and narrative comprehension (Hutton et al., 2015).
2. Reading improves language skills
Regular reading expands a child’s vocabulary, improves their grammar, and enhances their understanding of language structures. This linguistic foundation is crucial for effective communication (Mol & Bus, 2011).
Superpower skills: Using words to express feelings, understand the world, and connect with others.
3. Reading fosters emotional intelligence and empathy
Through stories, children experience different emotions and learn to empathize with characters, which enhances their emotional intelligence and empathy in real life. Research published in the journal Science suggests that reading literary fiction improves our Theory of Mind ability (Kidd & Castano, 2013).
That sounds like an impressive skill for your kid to grow, but you might wonder:
What is “Theory of Mind” and why is it important for my child to grow this skill?
“Theory of Mind” or ToM, also called “mentalizing”, is a person’s ability to explain, predict, and interpret behaviour by understanding that we have mental states, such as desires, beliefs, intentions, and emotions, and that these are different for oneself and others. Understanding others makes children act in more prosocial ways. (Imuta et al., 2016).
Superpower skills: Understanding and relating to others’ feelings.
4. Reading reduces stress and provides relaxation.
Reading can be a relaxing activity that helps children manage stress and unwind. It provides a healthy escape from everyday pressures and fosters a sense of calm. A study by the University of Sussex found that reading for just six minutes can reduce stress levels by up to 68%, more than listening to music or taking a walk (Chiles, 2009).
Superpower skills: Knowing how to destress and relax.
✨ Bonus: While your child reads, you can take a well-deserved break too!
✨ Bonus: While your child reads, you can take a well-deserved break too!
5. Reading expands your child’s ability to have fun.
Reading for pure enjoyment—reading just for fun—has tremendous value.
As award-winning children‘s book author Katherine Marsh shares in a recent article for The Atlantic (Marsh, 2023) children can be discouraged from reading if, through their experience at school or at home, they associate reading with being assessed on their reading comprehension or their ability to analyze and pick apart everything they read.
Remember that there is intrinsic value in pure enjoyment— so please do encourage your child to read at their level about things that they enjoy. Besides, having fun is a wonderfully natural way to spark spontaneous learning, and to retain what we learn.
Superpower skill: Having fun!
References
- Chiles, A. (2009). Reading can help reduce stress, according to University of Sussex research. https://www.theargus.co.uk/
news/4245076.reading-can-help- reduce-stress-according-to- university-of-sussex-research/ - Hutton, J. S., Horowitz-Kraus, T., Mendelsohn, A. L., DeWitt, T., & Holland, S. K. (2015). Home Reading Environment and Brain Activation in Preschool Children Listening to Stories. Pediatrics. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26260716/
- Imuta, K., Henry, J. D., Slaughter, V., Selcuk, B., & Ruffman, T. (2016). Theory of mind and prosocial behavior in childhood: A meta-analytic review. Developmental psychology, 52(8), 1192.
- Kidd, D. C., & Castano, E. (2013). Reading Literary Fiction Improves Theory of Mind. PubMed. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.
gov/24091705/ - Marsh, K. (2023, March 22). Why Kids Aren’t Falling in Love With Reading. The Atlantic.
- Mol, S. E., & Bus, A. G. (2011). To Read or Not to Read: A Meta-Analysis of Print Exposure from Infancy to Early Adulthood. Psychological Bulletin. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.
gov/21219054/
Meet the friendly authors
Looking for a fun story to read to/with your child?
Check out the whimsical Superhero Stories of each of our team members.
You can find them on our Kids Reconnect Team page.
Our team’s Superhero stories are a fun way for you to introduce your child to their “Feelings Helper” (therapist) before they visit Kids Reconnect. You can read them with/to your child or, if they are younger, you could show them the therapist’s picture and click on the interactive animations together. Reading together, you’ll see a red bird who sings, a panda who hates soup, a dragon who smiles with his eyes, a rapid red race car, a polar bear and his Mom, and many more. If your kiddo is older or prefers to read on their own, you can show them the stories for them to enjoy as well.
Our Superhero Stories show you and your kiddo how we emPOWER kids by focusing on their strengths.
Looking at the pictures of the clinic and the therapists also familiarizes kids with our space, and helps them feel more at ease, reassured, and excited about where they will be going. Therapists’ Superhero Stories also help your child relate to their therapist, their Superpowers, and the challenges they overcame as shared in their story. This encourages kids to explore and grow their own special Superpowers along their fun child counselling adventure.