Importance of reading

A child’s reading skills are important to their success in school as they will allow them to access the breadth of the curriculum and improve their communication and language skills. In addition, reading can be a fun and imaginative time for children, which opens doors to all kinds of new worlds for them.
Why we read?

1. Reading is good for your brain: “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”Joseph Addison penned this quote roughly 300 years ago, before modern science and research equipment could back up his claim. Today, however, scientific studies show that reading does make you smarter. Reading a novel, for example, increases the blood flow and improves connectivity in the brain.
2. Reading introduces you to new ideas and invites you to solve problems: Have you ever solved a case in a mystery book before you read the conclusion or predicted a turn of events in a novel? Your analytical thinking was stimulated merely from reading. Reading helps you detect patterns, solve problems, and assimilate new information as if you were living in the characters’ shoes.
3. Reading is important because it develops the mind: The mind is a muscle. It needs exercise. Understanding the written word is one way the mind grows in its ability. Teaching young children to read helps them develop their language skills. It also helps them learn to listen. Everybody wants to talk, but few can really listen. Lack of listening skills can result in major misunderstandings which can lead to job loss, marriage breakup, and other disasters – small and great. Reading helps children [and adults] focus on what someone else is communicating.
3. Reading makes you a better writer: When you read, your brain absorbs good writing techniques and vocabulary. In your own writing, you will unconsciously copy the writing styles of books that held your attention. Reading also enhances your vocabulary and spelling. New words appear in their natural context and you can deduce meaning from the surrounding words, while visually imprinting their spelling for accurate recall.
4.Reading improves your conversational skills: Because reading increases your vocabulary and your knowledge of how to correctly use new words, reading helps you clearly articulate what you want to say. The knowledge you gain from reading also gives you lots to talk about with others.
5. Reading strengthens worldview and convictions: When you read a book with a concurring worldview, it reinforces your convictions. If you read a book with an opposing worldview, it broadens your perspective and causes you to examine your beliefs and search for truth.
6. Reading improves your self-discipline and consistency: With the modern barrage of media and instant technological information, our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. Reading a book, unlike skimming a web page, forces you to focus. To get the most out of a story, you must fixate on the plot and complete the book. In doing this, your brain forms deep connections and practices concentration.
7. Reading increases your knowledge of history: Reading can teach you historical politics, customs, cultures, economics, and intellect. Often these facts are set in a context of a story, making history easy to remember.
8. Reading increases cultural knowledge: Reading books set in cultures different from our own provides knowledge of those cultures and the emotional and spiritual lives of the people who live there. I hope to travel the world someday, but until then I’m exploring through books. I’ve gained a deeper understanding of cultures through reading: stories of hammock beds, cannibals, Burgas, and Uganda’s red dirt stand out stark in my brain. I’ve not yet been to these cultures, but I understand them better because of reading.
9. Reading challenges your imagination: As you read, you put yourself in the characters’ shoes. Your brain goes beyond the words on the page, imagining details such as appearances, emotions, and surroundings. William Styron wrote, “A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.”
10. Reading increases your skill in an area of interest: Reading about your specific field or interests can improve your success in your field. You’ll gain factual knowledge and learn from others’ experiments and mistakes.
11. Reading inspires you: Reading a good book is like being around an inspiring person. You observe inspiring actions, feel contagious passion, and desire to live a better life.
12. Reading reduces stress:Reading about something you enjoy or losing yourself in a good novel is an excellent way to relax. It can ease tension in your muscles and heart while letting your brain wander to new ideas and live in someone else’s shoes. Reading is a mini vacation for your brain!
Finally, why is reading important? Reading is important because words – spoken and written – are the building blocks of life. You are, right now, the result of words that you have heard or read and believed about yourself. What you become in the future will depend on the words you believe about yourself now. People, families, relationships, and even nations are built from words