How much time to you actually spend reading to your child?

Reading to your child is very important. You and your child should read together at least 20 minutes a day. It doesn't have to be as time consuming as you think. I can be done throughout the day and doesn't have to be done all at once. Think about going out to lunch or dinner. Read somethings on the menu together. If you are giving your children cereal for breakfast leave the cereal box on the table. There are usually really fun things on the back of cereal boxes for kids to read. They are usually filled with jokes and riddles. The last thing is bedtime. If you have more than one child you can read one book to them together taking turns every night or you can have your older child read to your younger child.

Those are some great ideas for slipping in some reading during the regular schedule. - Mom4one 3/13/2010 12:14:56 AM | Flag

Answered by lizzypo {116}
3/12/2010 10:54:45 AM

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· When my kids where small I would read them one story every night. On the weekends sometimes they would get two stories. It only took about 10 minutes to read one, so added together that’s about an hour a week. This night time ritual really helped to settle them down and got them interested in reading for themselves. As they got older we would read the news paper or a magazine together. Makes great mommy and me time.

Answered by Ramage13 {103}
http://www.00cupcake.blogger.com
3/14/2010 5:16:16 PM

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I read to my stepson comes over. He loves books and I feel that reading is very important for children. My parent's read to me as a child and I had a 5th grade reading level by the time I was in first grade. They did not read to my sister when she was younger and she has had reading disabilities all her life. Because of it, she struggled through school. Reading doesn't have to be a huge chore, read a short store before bed or street signs when you go somewhere. It really can be as easy as that.

Answered by daisymom {128}
3/15/2010 8:50:47 AM

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I have a 12 week old and I read to her 20 minutes a day. I suspect that this amount will increase as she gets older.

Current research states that children in preschool should read a half an hour a day and in elementary school one-two hours a day. This will ensure the child stays on track with current standards. This is a lot of reading. Much of this the child can do on his/her own. Just flipping through the pages and looking at the words and associating the words with pictures is an act of literacy education.

Now, I'm writing this from the point of view of someone with a masters degree in literacy. I know that a busy mom will find this much reading difficult. At minimum, though, the child should be read to or should be reading to an adult at least 20-30 minutes a day. This is what it takes for the child to keep up with the increasingly more stringent standards.