Why you should read to your child
Question: What is an everyday moment with your child that you enjoy? I don't mean a moment that is exceptionally beautiful, but one that is really everyday, that takes place even on a mixed day and brings some light into the grey. And I don't mean a moment that your child enjoys, but a moment that you say: I like doing this with my child.
With me? Reading aloud.
As a rule, it was always quite late, my son should have been asleep by now, but he asked me in a slightly accusatory voice: «You're still reading to me, aren't you?» And because the connection between my heart and my brain runs on winding paths, I didn't say what I thought: «No, it's really late now», but what I felt: «Sure, but really only two chapters» and crawled into bed with him.
Reading aloud creates a magic between me and my son, and I am overcome by a calm, attentiveness and concentration that is both stimulating and soporific at the same time.
Reading is actually everything in life. If you read, you can fly. If you read, you go further. Those who read are never lonely. I once read a study that said that even those who read a lot early on perform better at shooting games. It's crazy. Reading has a hand in everything, and is even involved in its own abolition.
Be fully present when reading aloud
Reading aloud seems even more important to me than reading. It's a cultural technique that connects people in a way that watching a TV series together can never do. Reading aloud creates a magic between me and my son, and I am overcome by a sense of calmness, attentiveness and concentration that is both energising and soporific. Unlike the television or laptop, you become the medium yourself through your voice. You give your child something. In the end, was that what Marshall McLuhan meant by «The medium is the message»?
In any case, you immerse yourself in a story together - from different sides, with different backgrounds, but together, side by side. You experience - reading - an adventure. Books that work well? In my experience, any of them. It doesn't make much difference whether you read «Momo», «The Red Zora», Harry Potter or Dostoyevsky, the important thing is that you read. That you are present and feel the warm body and regular breathing of a little person by your side.
Many parents worry that their children don't read enough. Or not at all. That they prefer to stare at a screen rather than a printed page. All I can say is: that applies to me too. I'd rather look at a screen than a page. And that's why reading aloud isn't just something for my son, but also for me. Because when you're reading aloud, you can't look at your smartphone at the same time. You can't do anything on the side anyway. You have to be completely there. With your son. And that's what it's all about, isn't it?
