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It is no secret that parents indulge in children’s literature. Be it classics from C.S Lewis or whimsical fantasies like Alice In Wonderland, we’re all guilty of lining our bookshelves with fairy tales that once captivated us. And of course, you’d want to pass down that first edition of Little Women and your extensive Roald Dahl collection and read your baby a different story every night. But face it, they might have other plans. Have you ever read your baby a bedtime story and they got stuck on it? When there are an endless number of books they could choose from but they want to read ‘Three Little Pigs’ for the third week in a row? Well, it’s not just your baby. Reading the same book again and again is something all babies do as they find it comforting. It’s like when adults choose to watch reruns of their favorite show for the 6th time even though the rest of the world has moved on and made a million more shows. But did you know that reading the same book to them repeatedly has many benefits?
Here are 5 reasons why you should continue to read your little one their favorite book:
1. Fosters Confidence
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We all love the feeling of knowing what’s coming next, even if it’s just the next part of a movie or a book. It helps us feel safe and confident. Being familiar with or memorizing a book has the same effect on a baby. Repetitive reading means that your child learns to read their favorite book without any hesitation or stopping which leaves them feeling smart and confident about themselves. And who wouldn’t want that? When they are confident in their ability to fully absorb the contents of the book, they will eventually move onto the next one as they are self-assured and positive that they can tackle new sentences and vocabulary.
2. Picking Up Vocabulary
Speaking of vocabulary, did you know that one way to strengthen your preschooler’s vocab is by memorization? At this age vocabulary, speech and pronunciation are very important to them. They tend to focus on how certain words are said and want to know the meaning behind every single one of them. Reading a book repeatedly will give them the opportunity to speak more words and recognize what they mean. It helps build their vocabulary and strengthen their sentence structure as they can focus on where and how new words are placed in the book. This enables your baby to have a deeper understanding of them as you go over it again and again.
3. Instills Important Life Lessons
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Most childrens books are fables which teach morals or have a life lesson your little one can learn. Your baby’s current favorite might have valuable lessons that they will benefit from absorbing repeatedly.It also helps that every story has its own lesson. For example, Hansel and Gretal teach children the valuable lesson of never going off on their own and always being safe.Whereas, a story like Brave teaches them to be kind and always have faith in themselves. After all, it is never too early to teach your little one life lessons that they will use along the way.
4. Helps With Language Flow
Teaching your children how to read is tricky without educating them about sentence flow, structure and grammar. But picking up on these things is easier if your baby is already familiar with the book. Allow them to pick out filler words to fit in between sentences to help them flow better, such as “since”, “but” and “the”. Let them experiment with sentence structure while figuring out how to make sense. It is a fun activity yall can do together.
5. A Bonding Experience
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What better way to connect with someone than bonding over a book? Of course, there’s the small detail where you might be fed up with said book after having to read it so many times but hey, clearly your baby is having the time of their lives. It is important to do things with your little one to show them that you care about their interests and likes. It helps them feel valued. Seeing them sounding out words, pointing at pictures they find fascinating and figuring out the story a little more every time you read it, can be a satisfying experience for the both of you. Besides you can always jazz it up by adding a different sound or noise for every character, or reading it in your pillow fort.
Parenting can sometimes be hard and tiring. And finding new ways to keep your baby interested and bond with them may seem like a lot of work. Reading their favorite book is a great solution. Just kick back and go over the same 50 pages you’ve read throughout the week. Your baby will love you for it!
