How Early Should You Start Reading to Your Kids?

July 7th, 2009

Typical children learn their alphabet by kindergarten and are starting to read basic picture books in grade one. But well before that, most kids enjoy being read to by others: looking at the pictures, turning pages, chewing on them.

My husband and I are expecting our first child this Fall. I'm doing everything an expecting mom is supposed to be doing: pre-natal classes, eating right and trying to get David to feel my belly when I feel the little one moving around - He seems to always miss it by about 5 seconds.

Every week I have been diligently reading What to Expect When You’re Expecting (isn’t that a pregnant woman’s right of passage?) It, and other resources about fetal development, all seem to agree that by the 24th week of pregnancy your growing baby can hear your voice – and even differentiate it from others it hears regularly.

Try reading aloud to your baby in utero, they suggest, as it helps babe become familiar with the voices of you and your partner. It is also thought that familiar voices, stories, and cadences of speech are comforting to the newborn and may even encourage them to breastfeed more vigorously.

Weird, I thought - But we were game for anything that might help the little guy out.

So, since 24 weeks, David has been reading to my ever-expanding belly. At first it felt a little silly for both of us. Me: sitting or lying in bed, baby bump exposed. David: nose as the level of my navel, reading to my belly’s round unanimated surface. It felt a little awkward, but we stuck with it.

After a few sessions something strange happened: It became fun! And soon these daily story times were something to which we both looked forward. It is a quiet time when the three of us connect. David and I reflecting on the prospect of being parents soon. And eventually the baby started participating too!

Even though I’d been feeling babe move for several weeks before we started reading to him/her, it was an incredible feeling when I noticed movement in response to dad’s voice. The roll of some anonymous body part toward the sound of Alice’s adventures in Wonderland. Maybe a head turning to hear better : )

During one of these reading sessions we both experienced seeing the baby move for the first time too! A dramatic series of little kicks or punches that bounced the otherwise calm surface of my belly. It was like a completely new level of communication with our unborn son or daughter. It felt like an affirmation – a cheering squad. Keep reading to me! I love it!!

In the early days we read from the small collection of childrens’ books that we already have, but we quickly got through all of these and needed something more substantial in order to commit to this reading adventure. Of course, it doesn’t matter what you read to a baby, it’s the sound and pattern of your voice that counts, so we decided to make it fun for us! Short stories, magazine articles, newspaper advice columnists – the baby doesn’t care. David even started reading different characters with various voices just to make me laugh.

Some nights I fall asleep while David reads to the baby, but he or she can still hear dad’s voice even if I am no longer paying attention.

Obviously reading is very important to us and we want to instill this value in our children as early as possible. Reading to our unborn babies is one way we hope to do this. Will it help make them more inclined to read on their own when they are able? Who knows. We hope so. We do know that it certainly can’t hurt. And in the meantime, it provides quality bonding time for us as a new family.


Jamie Roots is a registered nurse living in Metro-Vancouver, British Columbia. She and her husband David are expecting their first child this October. Her favourite children's books is the 'Serendipity Series' by Stephen Cosgrove .