As a parent, you’ve seen just how beneficial reading aloud to your child before bed can be. But now it might be time to turn the tables and occasionally have your child read to you at bedtime.
Here’s why doing so might be beneficial for your child’s reading skills.
1. Your child will develop greater reading fluency.
Children will greatly improve their reading fluency — the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression — by reading aloud to you, says Karen Burke, senior vice president of data analysis and academic planning at Scholastic Education.
“Fluency is huge because automaticity and accuracy with expression is critical to building skills for silent reading,” says Burke.
2. They’ll also increase reading prosody.
Fluency isn’t the only literacy skill children will develop by reading aloud to you. They’ll also boost their prosody — timing, phrasing, emphasis, and intonation — which makes reading aloud sound like a great conversation.
“This is where children begin to make words come alive,” says Burke.
3. You’ll have the opportunity to listen to your child.
By switching reading roles with your child at bedtime, you’ll also have a chance to listen to your child read, which has its own benefits.
“When parents listen carefully, they can determine strengths the child possesses and also areas for concern that could be discussed with the teacher,” says Burke. “Listening to a child read also lets the parent hear vocabulary being used at their child's particular level.”
How to Reverse Roles Seamlessly
If your child is reluctant about the idea of reading to you, Burke suggests taking a “shared to paired” reading approach.
Begin by reading aloud together, at your child’s pace. As they begin to gain more confidence and fluency in their reading over the next few nights, soften and lower your voice until they’re reading aloud to you on their own.
Whether your beginning reader is ready to dive right into reading aloud to you at bedtime, or you have to ease into the transition, it’s important that the experience is still focused on the parent-child connection and not solely on reading development. In other words: Have fun and enjoy the process together. And of course, continuing to read aloud to your child has several benefits as well.
Encourage a love of reading with help from our guide, which includes book recommendations by interest, tips for getting your child to read for fun, and much more.
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