Just Read One More Book
This weekend I read in the newspaper (yes, I said newspaper–) an article about the growing concern among educators and literary enthusiasts that people are reading less and less.
The columnist shared results of a study, done over a 20 year period, on the reading habits of 230,000 Americans (ages 15 years of age and older).
While the number of adults reading for knowledge and pleasure was drastically shrinking, the most disheartening part of that study, for me, revealed the diminishing amount of time participants read to their children.
Only two percent said they regularly read to their children. Those two percent read to their kids an average of 28 minutes a day, whereas the average time of all the rest of the participants was only one minute a day!
What if the difference isn’t that those families have more time?
What if they just have a habit of opening a book?
What if we intentionally made reading a daily habit for our kids?
One book at a time.
Bring Back More Books
One of the greatest gifts we can give our kids is a smorgasbord of good and beautiful things to discover—at a pace that allows them to process, absorb, and truly enjoy what they’re learning. Consider the benefits of what just one more book could mean to your kids:
Reading Aloud to our Kids:
- Builds vocabulary
- Improves the habit of listening and attention
- Builds background knowledge
- Develops imagination
- Encourages curiosity
- Builds confidence and comprehension
- Strengthens attention span
- Models fluent, expressive reading
- Improves language skills
- Sparks meaningful conversations
- Fosters empathy
- Introduces children to new ideas and perspectives
- Encourages a love of books
- Makes learning feel natural
- Strengthens the parent-child bond
- Builds family traditions
- Creates lasting childhood memories
Just Read One More Book, Chapter, or Verse
Maybe it’s one book before bedtime.
Maybe it’s ten minutes of picture books on the couch after breakfast.
Maybe it’s a Bible verse read over lunch.
Maybe you read a board book to your toddler while they eat a snack.
Maybe you listen to an audiobook in the car.
Maybe you don’t finish the chapter.
Maybe you’re interrupted.
Maybe your three-year-old begs for the same book over and over.
It still counts.
Because reading to your children doesn’t have to be a big production. You don’t need a reading nook. You don’t need an elaborate curriculum. You don’t need a carefully planned list of literary masterpieces.
You just need a book and a few minutes.
And then, tomorrow, you do it again.
The Minutes Add Up
This is the best part of reading: Ten minutes here, thirty minutes there, and before you know it, your kids are connecting with characters, wandering through new worlds, and learning the joy of getting lost in books.
You see that it’s not about consuming as much information as possible, but rather that your kids are learning to think and contemplate for themselves...and enjoying it!
That “just one more book” adds up.
Little by little, you’re helping your kids become thoughtful, curious readers who know how to slow down, think deeply, and enjoy books not only for what they can teach us, but for the simple pleasure of getting lost in a story.
