Why Reading to Your Baby Trumps Toys and TV

A lot has been said about the benefits of reading to your baby, starting as early as possible. Yet, you can never really overemphasize its power – reading enhances language, learning, vocabulary, imagination, emotional skills, memory and parental bonding among other things. Regular reading also lays the foundations for good writing and communication skills.

But, you already knew that. So I won’t go into it here.

Here are five other reasons why a book trumps other forms of entertainment any day. And these have nothing to do with stimulating your baby’s brain.

1. A book doesn’t run out of batteries. Now, how many of those ridiculously expensive, flashy ‘educational toys’ can claim that? They may sing and dance and jump out at you in the dark, but one day, they will stop doing all those things and they won’t be as much fun any more. A book, on the other hand lasts forever. (Well, theoretically, at least, until the imp figures out how much fun shredding is. For tips on protecting books from your baby, head over here.)
2. Baby books are far more affordable than baby toys. And if you’re a member at a public library, they don’t cost a dime. Imagine that. You have free access to countless baby books and you never run the risk of her outgrowing a book or becoming bored with one. You could just keep restocking her shelf every week.
3. A book travels with your baby Ever spent hours inside an airplane, in a car, a waiting room or a doctor’s office with your baby? I have. I’ve endured..err enjoyed an 18-hour flight, a 7-hour drive and several instances of waiting with M during the three years that she’s been in my life. I think those occasions elevated my appreciation of the value of the printed word by several degrees.
4. Books don’t make noise. Well, at least the old-fashioned ones anyway. And after listening to a multitude of toys programmed to sing the ABCs, 123s and a variety of rhymes and poems throughout the day, I can’t tell you how much the blissful silence of a book means to me. And I have a feeling babies enjoy that quiet too, once in a while.
5. Books are relatively safer. With the number of toys, baby foods and other items being recalled these days, can we ever really be sure if anything off the shelf is safe for our babies? So it follows that books are not completely free from risk either and I know that there is concern about the lead content in some children’s books. Not too long ago, Congress passed a law banning the sale of children’s books published before 1985. Also, you can’t deny the choking hazards associated with certain types of clip-on books or those with fancy accessories.  That said, I still believe that by far, a good old-fashioned, hard-cover book or cloth book is likely to be safer than many of the plastic and electronic toys we find today. (Safer on so many levels, by the way – but that’s for another post.)

So there you have it. Five fabulous new reasons to read to your baby even if she’s already a genius.