We have all known the importance of books in one’s life and that books are a person’s best friends! This holds true for your babies, your little ones as well from the very beginning.
The way we start speaking and singing lullabies to the baby from day one, likewise reading books can be a great way of connecting and communicating with your bub. Reading is a one-to-one activity and becomes a bonding time in its own unique way- if followed as a routine.
For a new parent it becomes quite difficult to understand how to keep the little one occupied or how to engage with the baby. The need becomes deeper in nuclear family set up where the absence of grandparents or extended family members means lesser verbal communication with the baby. Here comes the role of books. Believe me, this is a wonderful shared activity you can do while helping the baby develop :
- Communication skills
- Enhanced vocabulary
- Social and emotional connect
This not only gets the baby pick up reading and speaking faster over next 1-2 years, but also helps build a connection & closeness with you through your voice. And this in turn acts as a soother for the little one.
It is also believed that more the number of words and variety of words infants are exposed to, wider is their vocabulary later on. Initially the baby wouldn’t understand what you are reading out or the meaning of words, but the rhythm, tone and your voice modulation gets instilled in their brain.
We used to sing rhymes like “twinkle twinkle little stars” and “Old Mc Donald had a farm” to our babies since they were not even a month old. And it came as a surprise to us when we heard them humming these tunes when they were hardly 6 month old!
Also, reading or singing to babies makes them more responsive. They start responding in their own way by moving their legs and arms.
And it is worth noticing that reading to babies helps exposing them to different emotions and speech sounds.The way you would sing “Jonny Jonny, yes papa”, ending it with the “ha ha ha” gets registered in those tiny brains that are growing at an enormous pace which you and I cannot even imagine.
And the best part is that you can actually read anything to babies from a newspaper clip to page 3 article since they don’t understand words so early on.
While it’s best to pick books that help stimulate their growing brains, it becomes a task when you really go out in the market to buy books for babies/kids. There exists a wide range from Indian publishers to international bestsellers.
So for you mommies – don’t be in a fix! Want to know the best books to buy for little ones? Refer to my next blog “Five must have books for infants”.
Go Mommy!
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