Kids Who Are Read To By Dad Have Better Language Skills – Study

Have you been reading to your child? This activity if done daily presents immense benefits to your child’s literary development. (Read here and  here). Beyond just reading to your child, a new research  at the Havard University has revealed that children who were read to by males or dads had better language skills than children who read to by their mums.

The pioneer of this study, Dr Elisabeth Duursma of  the University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia says this is so because men and women have a different approach to reading. She explains: ‘Reading is seen as a female activity and kids seem to be more tuned in when their dad reads to them – it’s special.’

Duursma explains that while mums were likely to ask straight forward questions like: ‘How many apples do you see?’, dads were more likely to say something like: “Oh, look, a ladder. Do you remember when I had that ladder on my truck?” That is great for children’s language development because they have to use their brains more. It’s more cognitively challenging,’ says Duursma.

Fathers favoured more abstract questions, which sparked imaginative discussions. 

Dads, where are you at? How many fathers care enough about their children’s development to take up the challenge of constantly reading to them? ‘The impact is huge, particularly if dads start reading to kids under the age of two’, says Duursma.

 

Source: Dailymail UK