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Growing up, we often see parents and guardians reading bedtime stories to their children before sleeping. Whether we experienced it ourselves, heard from others, or saw it in movies, reading bedtime stories has become a staple in many nighttime routines and is usually done as clockwork for many.
However, rather than just doing this because of tradition or because of something that we are used to, it carries more weight and has significant value for the child and the parents’ life. For many, reading bedtime stories at night is a way for them to bond with their children and get to know what their child is thinking or how they view the world.
What are the Benefits of Reading Bedtime Stories?
Reading bedtime stories, like the Stories by Grammygirl, can have many benefits. As mentioned earlier, this could be a great bonding experience for the parents to spend time with their child. However, what do children get out of this?
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Have Routine and Wind Down
Having a routine every night is important for children not only to build a sense of security but also helps them create a better body clock and have a specific time when they are supposed to sleep. If they sleep at the same time every night and wake up at around the same time every morning, it has been proven that they are more likely to get a restful sleep than that of an erratic sleep schedule.
This means that having activities fixed before bedtime, such as reading bedtime stories, could cue children to start to wind down and sometimes even become sleepy by a specific time. However, compared to other activities like watching a movie right before bedtime, it does not expose children to a lot of blue light, which, if done at an early age, could affect a child’s sleep pattern. Hence, reading bedtime stories is often preferred over other modes of telling stories before sleeping.
Learn Values Creatively
Children often don’t want to be taught something in the classroom or a lecture-based setting. As creative thinkers, children usually learn values better through experiences depicted in stories. What better way to do that than by telling them stories in a simple yet creative and imaginative way?
When children read or listen to stories, they often think of it as a more pleasurable or fun activity rather than something like work or study, which frequently has a negative connotation for them. This, paired with picking the right bedtime stories that they prefer, likely makes them more adept at listening or reading bedtime stories.
Cognitive Function
Bedtime stories boost kids’ thinking skills and help them learn and grow. Storytelling exposes kids to new words and sentence patterns, which allows them to understand grammar and increase their vocabulary. This procedure strengthens their comprehension and linguistic skills.
Additionally, kids remember characters, plot points, and locales – following the story helps them remember things better. As these children examine plots, character motives, and moral lessons, bedtime stories also help them ignite their inspiration and develop their capacity for abstract thought. These stories also stimulate children’s imaginations and creativity, pushing them to think creatively and imaginatively.
Better Emotional Skills
Using relevant characters and scenarios to help kids comprehend and process their emotions also aids in emotional development when reading bedtime stories. Children’s attention is needed to listen to a bedtime tale. In addition, it improves children’s listening abilities and attention span, both of which are fundamental when building relationships with others. This group activity strengthens relationships and enhances social contact, which is critical for developing communication skills.
There’s So Many! What Do I Choose? Picking the Right Bedtime Story
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Picking the right bedtime story is not necessarily about choosing the first one we see. When choosing a bedtime story for children, we must pick one with the correct moral values that we want our children to reflect in their lives. Many stories highlight different values, and having a good variety would be helpful for the child to learn more or understand that many values are of equal importance instead of focusing on just one value.
Selecting the perfect bedtime story for your child also means knowing what their interests are. Do they like dinosaurs, are they fond of pets, do they want to imagine that they are a prince or princess? These are things that we should ask ourselves to know if our child will be interested in the story that we are reading. After all, what is the use of a nice bedtime story with good moral values if a child is not listening to it? Want to get your hands on an interesting book filled with good moral values? Buy Stories by Grammygirl to engage your kids with heartwarming bedtime stories!
