Why Should I Read to My Toddler?

Studies show that children with active exposure to language have social and educational advantages over their peers - and reading is one of the best exposures to language.
Reading to your child lays the foundation for later independent reading. But before your child can read independently, he or she needs a set of skills called emergent literacy skills. These include:

• having a large vocabulary of words and knowing how to use them
• understanding that words are made up of smaller sounds (this is called phonemic awareness)
• understanding that marks on a page represent letters and words
• knowing the letters of the alphabet

You don't need games, flashcards, or special instruction to help your child gain these skills. You just need books, your child, and you. Reading to your child as often as possible is the best thing you can do to help him or her learn to read independently.