The stories have magic and we still remember them when we are older because we loved to hear them. Imaginary adventures or stories about how the dishwasher does not work ... What's the matter! The truth is that children love to hear stories, whether they are stories invented by their parents or stories from books.
Our recent study demonstrates that reading to children has a more positive long-term impact on their academic performance than any other activity (which includes playing an instrument with them or making crafts). We realized that the more parents read to their children, the better their grades were in different subjects.
In our most recent study, we asked some parents to read an illustrated story book without text to their children between three and five years old entitled 'The Wolf and the Seven Kids'. We also evaluate different cognitive abilities of children such as language skills, memory, self-control and social skills.
Examining the different ways in which parents tell stories, we have been able to identify what are the elements of reading in common that may be more beneficial for children's cognitive development.
1. Get at your level
Perhaps one of the most important aspects when reading to children is to put ourselves at their level paying attention to the clues they give us: Do you like history? Do you know the vocabulary? Are you paying more attention to the illustrations or the text? Try to make him learn instead of just giving him information. For example, instead of saying, "Look how they are going to cook, they are sure they are hungry," you can ask "What are they doing" or "Why do you think they are doing it?" Try to find out if they are listening and paying attention or if they have lost interest and are not attending. If they are deconcentrated, maybe asking questions can you get their attention back or maybe they prefer another kind of story. The best books for your child are the ones they like best.
2. Ask questions
Parents who ask many questions establish a more fun and informative conversation with their children. Ask them if they know the vocabulary, if they can guess what the characters are going to do next and why they have done what they have done. These questions are not only for children to acquire new knowledge and ways of thinking, they also help them strengthen the emotional bond between parents and children. Children feel part of the activity and do not perceive that they are being imposed on how to do things.
3. Do not settle for describing images or reading text
How would you describe what happens in this scene? In our study we provide parents with an illustrated book without text. We realized that there was an important difference between parents who simply described what they saw and those who went beyond the images.
For example, when in the picture book the mother of the kids came home and saw the door open, a father explained the page this way:
When her mother came home happy because she was going to see her children and hug them and tell them a story, she suddenly realized that the door was open and was surprised.
While another father did it like this:
The mother came home and saw that the door was open; He entered the house and looked for his children.
The latter is limited to describing the image. The first used his imagination to tell more things than was seen in the image, a more enriching way to tell a story to a child and that certainly makes it possible to obtain a better cognitive development. This is because in this way it teaches to think abstractly, the basis of many of the more complex cognitive abilities such as problem solving and critical analysis.
4. Establish logical connections between different parts of the story
Another element that has a strong link in the development of the child's cognitive abilities is the way in which parents establish logical connections between the different parts of the story.
On many occasions the events unfold very quickly: suddenly the wolf is eating the kids and the next moment the mother finds him. Some parents try to make the sequence of events more logical than others.
For example, in this image, when the wolf arrives to knock on the door, a father explained it by saying.
The wolf, realizing that the mother was not at home, went and knocked on the door. This phrase lacks logical connections: How did the wolf know that the mother was not at home? Why do you want to knock on the door? What are you looking for?
Another father explained it as follows:
The wolf, who had been sunbathing in a nearby bush, saw how the mother was going to buy food and thought that the kids were going to be left alone at home, which gave her a good chance to go and try to deceive them and thus get a good food.
In this case the father is clearly providing logical connections between different parts of the story.
5. Add relevant details
Make sure the details you add are relevant. We also realized that most parents add many details to the story to make it more interesting or complete. However, the details relevant They are the most appropriate when it comes to improving children's learning. The relevant details are those that help make the story easier to understand.
For example, one of the parents explained that:
The kid wearing a yellow shirt and the youngest said: "We shouldn't open the door! How do you know it is our mother if she just left?"
In this case the fact that he wore a yellow shirt is a descriptive detail that does not add much to the story. Another mother commented:
The smallest, who was also the smartest and the most cautious, said ...
This mother is clearly adding a detail (that the smallest is also the smartest and the most cautious) that makes the story more meaningful and easier to follow.
6. Talk about mental and emotional concepts
We realized that those parents who did not just describe the events of the story but also commented on abstract concepts related to emotions, desires and thoughts tended to have children with better cognitive abilities. These children were better at understanding other people's emotions, they had better friendships and even better memory or better complex cognitive abilities that will suit them later. All this made them have better academic results and a better capacity for socialization.
This article has originally been published in The Conversation. You can read the original article here.
Translated by Silvestre Urbón
