10 Benefits of Reading (and Why Children and Adults Should Read Often)
When you read, you exercise your comprehension abilities and your analytical abilities. It fires up your imagination and stimulates the memory centers of your mind. It helps recall information as well as stabilize your emotions. The importance of a reading habit is that it strengthens mental muscles. Following is a list of 10 Benefits of reading as recommended by ‘Children’s Educational Services'.
1. Kids who read often and widely get better at it 10 Benefits of Reading (and Why Children and Adults Should Read Often)
This is pretty much just common sense.
After all, practice makes perfect in almost everything we humans do and reading is no different from anything else.
2. Reading exercises our brains
Reading is a much more complex task for the human brain than, say, watching TV is.
Reading strengthens brain connections and actually builds new connections.
3. Reading improves concentration
Again, this is a bit of a no-brainer.
Children have to sit still and quietly so they can focus on the story when they’re reading.
If they read regularly, they develop the ability to do this for longer periods.
4. Reading teaches children about the world around them
Through reading, children learn about people, places, and events outside their own experience. They are exposed to ways of life, ideas, and beliefs about the world which may be different from those which surround them.
This learning is important for its own sake however it also builds a store of background knowledge that helps younger children learn to read confidently and well.
5. Reading improves a child’s vocabulary and leads to more highly developed language skills
This is because children learn new words as they read but also because they unconsciously absorb information as they read about things like how to structure sentences and how to use words and language effectively.
6. Reading develops a child’s imagination
This is because when we read our brains translate the descriptions we read of people, places, and things into pictures. When we’re engaged in a story, we’re also imagining how the characters are feeling. We use our own experiences to imagine how we would feel in the same situation.
7. Reading helps kids develop empathy
This is something I’ve only recently realized but it makes sense. As my fifteen-year-old son said to me when we were discussing it: ‘Of course, it does because you’re identifying with the character in the story so you’re feeling what he’s feeling.’
8. Children who read do better at school
And they don’t just do better at subjects like reading, English, and history. They do better at all subjects and they do better all the way through school.
9. Reading is a great form of entertainment
A paperback book or an e-reader like the Amazon Kindle doesn’t take up much space so you can take it anywhere and you’ll never be lonely or bored if you have a book in your bag.