Please read to your kids

[reale00]

every night from the day they are born until kindergarten. I promise you they'll be literate. do it even at the end of a long day and you're tired as hell and it's not fun and you hate it. just DO IT

Lovely sentiment but I read a story to him every day, he enjoys it, I largely enjoy it but it won't ever make him literate.

A novel idea. I wonder why no one has thought of reading to children before.

@Idontspeakgermansorry
Many many children are not read to at all.

And those won't be the children, who's parents are convinced to read to their kids by a random Mumsnet post.

Gosh, I’d never thought to do that if you hadn’t told us to. Are you a bloke?

You can't promise that.
Being read to helps but doesn't take away SN, dyslexia etc.

Only until kindergarten? Blimey. I read daily to DS1 until he was about 11. And less often after then.

I read to mine every night till he was about 8 or 9 and he has never chosen to read a book voluntarily, ever, and he’s a teen now. Some kids just don’t like reading. It’s obviously a nice thing to do to read to your kid and great for their vocab and getting them enthusiastic about books, but don’t assume it’ll automatically create a voracious reader.

My dd is 5 and is suspected to have ASD and ADHD. We try to read with her as much as possible but getting to sit down and actually listen to a book is quite difficult. She’s intelligent and is on track with her reading and maths at school so not being able to read to her every day doesn’t seem to have affected her. I’m not sure why you say until kindergarten though, we will keep reading with her as much as we can all through primary school.

I loved reading to my children, was one of favourite things to do.

They are now 19 and 20 and remember the books very fondly. Cant wait for grand-children so i can start again!

It is like saying 'they'll catch up in their own time'.
No they don't always.

Fully agree OP.
I thought it was a given. So many lazy parents about.
Both DH and I do it. We take turns. And DH HATES reading for pleasure.

I did with mine and it was my favourite time of day. I have lovely memories of it. They HATE reading and barely read their books through school and as adults don't read a thing but still I enjoyed it 🤣

Thank you, Kate Middleton.

I love reading to mine, in fact still do when I can - at 20!

Literate as in they’ll be able to read themselves? I’ve always read to my 8 year old
daughter but she’s only just becoming a fluent reader now. I appreciate that without being read to she might be a lot worse now.

And for goodness sake don't stop when they start reading themselves. I was still reading to mine well into secondary school. It's lovely to share books when they're older.

My DD (14 now) is severely dyslexic. She was read to without fail from birth until the age of about 11/12 every day. Since then she’s listened to audio books religiously, because she chooses to. Yes she’s got SEN/dyslexia which impacts her spelling and processing but she’s verbally very literate and very creative when it comes to writing stories etc. She enjoys stories told in various mediums. I think this is partly down to her being read to. So in spite of SEN many children can benefit hugely from being read to.

Oh I totally agree it is beneficial.
It was the 'I promise you' I objected too.
Along with people saying 'they will get there at their own pace'. Well they get somewhere, but not necessarily 'there'.