The Essentials of Reading Bedtime Stories

Bedtime stories have long been known to strengthen bonds between parents and their children. Reading stories to children is also an effective way to get them to fall asleep. However, this favorite bedtime routine also has other special powers one of which is a boost in your child’s brain development.

Here, Mohamed Al Aidaroos, Managing Partner of Ink Readable Books, organizer of the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale Dubai – The World’s Biggest Book Sale –shares some interesting insights on the importance of reading to your children, every night.

With today’s fast-paced lifestyle, especially like we see in Dubai, it can be a struggle to juggle everything and spend quality time with our children. As a father of five, I often wondered which activities would improve the creativity, imagination, and learning opportunities for my children. After going through many different activities, my wife and I quickly realized that bedtime reading is not only a great way to bond with our children, but it also provides a positive impact on their learning. It has helped to improve their language and communication skills and enhancing their creativity and imaginative thinking. Reading to children is enriching for both parents and children.

Word skills from within

By reading to your child for at least 10 minutes a day, you help build their communication toolkit – a crucial stepping stone in establishing conversational skills. In time, reading to, and with children will expand their vocabulary as it introduces them to words and objects that are outside their direct environment and not a part of their daily conversations.

Building character

Giving children the opportunity to explore different books and their favourite characters fosters the ability for them to form opinion and independent thinking. The earlier the child is exposed to a culture of reading, the better chance you have of them enjoy reading on their own. Encouraging children to read out loud and express themselves through characters within a book, adopting nuances such as accents and mannerisms, helps build self-confidence that will only help them with reading in class, or to a public audience later in life.

Big Bad Wolf Books Sale Dubai runs from October 18-28 at Dubai Studio City, Soundstage Venue. Open 24 hours a day, the event will be home to three million brand new books spanning dozens of genres and sub-genres on sale at 50%-80% below recommended retail prices. The event will feature a wide variety of children’s books.