If only I had a dime for every time someone told me that my daughter wasn’t reading well because I  hadn’t read to her enough…

But opinions are a dime a dozen. Research, on the other hand, is priceless and the research shows a very different story. In fact, researchers have found that reading to your kids, whether they are dyslexic or not, has little impact on their ability to learn to read.

We owe this research to many including Dr. Monique Senechal from Carleton University, who created new more accurate ways to measure how much parents were reading to their kids and its impacts.

But surely there must be some benefits from all those books we have read, right?

Yes, the benefit is in the vocabulary. Children who are read to are exposed to hundreds of thousands of more words than children who are not read to. Over the long run, increased vocabulary has been shown to help children read and comprehend what they read but there is no direct connection to learning to read.

There are also other benefits that have nothing to do with reading. Books teach our children empathy and other social-emotional skills. They also expose them to new ideas, places, and concepts.

So, of course, we don’t want to stop reading to our kids but be at peace. Those nights you were exhausted and skipped the bedtime story are not to blame for your child’s reading struggles! Dyslexia is a neurological disorder; not a parenting failure!

Before I go, I have just a bit more research to share with you.

The one exception to these insights is alphabet books. Alphabet books have been found to be a good foundation in teaching alphabet skills, so you might want to throw some of those in if your kiddo is still working on learning the alphabet.

Also, importantly, those vocabulary benefits that come from reading to your kids work best when you read the same book to your kiddo at least 3 times and when you pause the story to discuss it as you are reading. If you are like me and don’t love reading the same book over and over and over and over, you might want to pick some books up from the library so you can return them after 3 readings!

You have not failed your child because you just didn’t read to them enough no matter what your nosey neighbor or in-law says! When all they want to do is throw books and all you want to do is sleep rest assured that there is always tomorrow!