Father’s Day and The importance of Dad reading to kids.
- 2022-05-31
It’s Father’s Day!
Sunday, 19th June, is Father’s Day. We’re celebrating the main-man in your kid’s world. (And to those men who are a paw-parent, happy Dad’s Day to you too!) To help make your male role model’s day a little more special, how about getting your little person to fill in the blanks prompting them to tell their hero just why he’s such a special, important person. If he / she is too young to read or write, get them to tell you their thoughts and jot them down. In a modern world where time and effort are precious, these things speak volumes in terms of love.
We have some ideas that you and your kid can do together to make father’s day extra special this year.
- Buy him his favourite beer or chocolate or cereal (whatever), and draw / make your own labels. Stick them on with Pritt or sticky tape
- Make him breakfast in bed
- Fill in our “About My Dad!” questionnaire
- Pick up the dog poop!
- Clean the cat litter tray!
- Mow the lawn
- Help him take out the garbage
- Ask mom to buy him some new socks & undies
- Read or tell HIM a story
Time spent together is always worthwhile. It may seem like a small thing, but reading for 15-30 minutes daily, will create a better routine, happier child, and ultimately, better life for your both. And you’re not only creating wonderful bonding time, but you’re setting your child up and giving him the best chance at a great future. Because, READERS ARE LEADERS!!!
I have such great memories of my dad reading to me before bedtime. Interestingly enough, research also shows that story time reading done specifically by fathers can be enormously beneficial. Reading bedtime stories with dad 'makes kids better at school', and children go on to do better in class when they share bedtime reading with their father, says a study.
Previous research centred on mothers, but experts found story time with dads plays a significant role in child development, boosting pre-schoolers’ learning and ability by a third.
The study evaluated a parenting programme called Fathers Supporting Success in Preschoolers that trains them in sharing book reading with their children. The interaction uses prompts and feedback to allow a child to become an active storyteller themselves. It relies heavily on using pictures. For this, books like The Fuzz-Fuzz are ideal.
Shared book reading fosters their relationship, and also makes the children more ready to take on the challenges of school.
The program sought to establish routines, encourage child-centred time and use attention and incentives to promote good behaviour. It also used distraction and ignoring to reduce attention seeking, and resorted to time outs sparingly.
The researchers found that parenting behaviours, child behaviours, and language development of the children who participated in the program improved significantly. More specifically, fathers reported improved discipline approaches and promotion of their children’s psychological growth. This held true in the researchers’ observations, who after the intervention, saw that fathers made fewer critical statements to their children and used more praise and affection.
The researchers also measured a moderate effect on language outcomes among the children. Overall, the data suggest more than a 30% improvement in parenting and school readiness.
At the end of the day, kids might not realize all the benefits, just that they love spending that quality time with all their parental people!
So, to the Dads, the grandads, the new dads, the old dads, single dads… we salute and celebrate you.
Until July, keep reading! Keep imagining!
Love,
Jennifer
xoxo