There are several reasons why most schools encourage students to read beyond prescribed textbooks. While this has several benefits, motivating your child to read can be challenging initially. However, parents must remember there’s no looking back once their child realizes its importance in the long run. You can share some of the impacts of reading with your child to motivate them.
Reading improves your memory
Most primary school encourage students to read extensively. Whether story books or reference academic books, reading can significantly help improve one’s memory. While this might look monotonous initially, students can realize its impact on their retaining power pretty soon.
If your child needs to remember class lectures or what they read last week, increasing their reading time can do wonders. Studies indicate children who read regularly tend to perform better than the ones who do not, solely because of their retention power.
Our brain is like an elastic sack that expands or shrinks depending on how you use it. Thus, feeding in more information in your brain expands its retention power, letting children memorize and learn effortlessly.
Reading helps in creativity
Books serve as a knowledge reservoir, which can help individuals ideate and brainstorm. They often spark unique thoughts and ideas which might have been suppressed otherwise. Moreover, reading different genres of books can help children expand their ideas and explore a new world beyond textbooks. Parents and teachers must encourage students to read various kinds of books as it can motivate them to devise their ideas. Moreover, reading books can come in handy for students who find it boring to read school textbooks. Remember, encouraging your children to read and explore new books can enhance their imagination capacity, which can be incredibly beneficial in the future.
Reading enhances communication skills
Books can improve students’ communication skills, especially if they get habituated to reading from a young age. Most schools with an American curriculum schools in Riyadh encourage reading among students and have allotted each class a specific time for reading activities. Teachers motivate students to read a book or chapter and share their insights with their peers. Though these activities do not carry different grades, they help develop their personality and communication skills. Students often have several biases which act as communication barriers between themselves and their peer groups. However, reading and sharing their knowledge with others help them overcome such biases.
Reading also enhances one’s vocabulary and therefore helps them communicate easily. Students might pick up different ways of communicating with each other, learn how to talk professionally and brush up their overall interaction skills if they read extensively. Thus, motivating your child to read is the first essential step if you want your child to communicate effectively.
Reading can relax your mind
Students might often be stressed, which can be distracting, affecting their mental health and academic performance. Books can be a great way to overcome mental stress and improve concentration. Since reading can increase one’s focus and divert their mind, it can help students forego difficult and tense situations. Thus, reading can be a great way of relaxing one’s mind. Moreover, reading a book from one’s favorite genre can also lift their mood and lead a more stress-free life. In short, reading can help students improve their focus on concentrating on their activities better. Reading can enhance their performance by increasing concentration, whether studying or participating in extracurricular activities.
Reading can strengthen one’s values
Reading books can boost one’s conscience and strengthen their value systems. Books highlight various philosophies, ideas, and values which play a crucial role in influencing students. Students, especially in primary school, are deeply influenced by specific characters, actions, and moral values. They also tend to imitate them in real life. Thus, books can help one develop their fundamental philosophies in life.
Since reading books play a crucial role in shaping individuals, especially at a younger age, parents and mentors must monitor the kind of books they read. As mentioned earlier, students tend to imitate ideas and characters by closely following their actions. You must ensure your child reads constructive books instead of the ones that expose them to violent ideas. Remember, the kind of books children read determines their personality, so motivating them to read moral stories can be helpful.
To sum up
Reading has innumerable benefits for individuals and hence, must be encouraged among students. Developing a habit of reading develops several essential values and shapes individual personalities. Additionally, books play a vital role in boosting creativity among students and developing their analytical skills. Hence, students must be encouraged to read intensively from a young age. Remember, even though your child might refuse to read beyond their textbooks initially, they will love it once they get habituated. Thus, the parents’ and teachers’ duty is to motivate children to read and widen their knowledge base.
