The Importance of Creating a “Print-Rich” Environment for Our Children

I admire, and in many ways aspire to be like, Marie Kondo, but one thing we fundamentally disagree about is the utility of keeping as many books as we want on the bookshelf!  Of course I give away books I didn’t love or know I won’t read again, lend to a friend, or keep for my kids to read, but in general, I love having books all around our home.  I fantasize about having expansive, brimming library walls with those rolling ladders, perusing my options as I roll around the room from my lofty perch.  And my love for books includes, most of all, books for my kiddos.  In our home, books do not fall in the “Maybe you should ask Santa for that” category.  I admittedly shower my kids with books, which includes books from the library.  A trip to the library typically results in 10-15 books per kiddo (and the inevitable search for the ones that have gone missing by their due date!).

And I’m ok with all of this, because the jury is out on this issue – “print-rich” environments bestow a major advantage on our children. 

“Studies show that children who come from what researchers call a ‘print-rich environment’ consistently score better in writing, reading, and math skills  than children who come from a ‘print-poor environment’” – Dr. Jenn Berman, Superbaby

Indeed, “when researchers examined twenty-one kindergarten classes to see who displayed high interest in reading and who showed low interest, it became clear that the home environment and parents’ reading habits were crucial factors.”  Superbaby.

I find the this chart summarizing the above study compelling.  It shows the percentage of various home-environment factors among kids considered to have a high interest in reading, versus a low interest.  In other words, according to the below, among the high-interest reader group, 78% of moms were leisure readers, while only 28% of moms in the low-interest group read for leisure.  The importance of example!

What I love about this chart is it highlights tangible (and affordable) things we can do for our children to move them into a high-interest reader group.  In addition to setting an example, reading to our kids daily (even if it’s the same books over and over – I’ve read Goodnight Moon, the Little Blue Truck, and Creepy Carrots approximately 900 times each!), and exposing them early and often to the magical place that is the library, are inexpensive and achievable things we can all aspire to do.

Studies also show that allowing your kids to own their own books is valuable for developing their enthusiasm about reading.  And this makes sense, right? I remember some of my favorites (The Secret Garden, Matlida), and I’m sure you do too.  Being able to revisit those books, and intimately knowing them as mine, made them special beyond their stories.  And while it’s tempting to make siblings share all books, it’s important to let them take ownership, maybe not of all (no, I probably won’t be buying two $70 encyclopedias), but of some of their books, which they can write their name in, dog-ear, and revisit as often as they’d like.

So at what ages should parents be involved in reading to their children?  Research shows from the womb to as old as they’ll let us!  In a fascinating study by Drs. Anthony DeCasper and Melanie Spence, pregnant moms read Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat to their babies in utero starting at 32 weeks, and found that at 38 weeks and shortly after birth, by measuring the babies’ heart rates and sucking patterns, the babies preferred being read the familiar passages from The Cat in the Hat to unfamiliar passages from other books read by the same voice.  That’s an incredible testament to the power of reading to our littles, even before birth! 

And even after your child can read on his or her own, reading to them and with them remains invaluable.  Not only is it meaningful bonding (and cuddle!) time, but you can have discussions with your children at all ages about vocabulary, themes, symbolism, puns, and countless other literary features.  According to studies, the best way (for anyone) to acquire knowledge of “rare” words (those not in the most common 10,000 words that comprise common lexicon), is through reading—while we parents typically use only nine rare words per thousand when we speak to our kids, children’s books use more than thirty per thousand (Superbaby, pp. 177-78).  Not only is this a major plug for reading books to our kids every day, but it also shows that we shouldn’t shy away from speaking with our kids with more sophistication as well!  Use unique, stupendous, grandiose words with your kiddos!  It will expose them to the wonderful world of vocabulary and prompt conversation too!

A few additional tips from the pros about how to encourage reading in our littles:

1.  Follow their interests – As long as you’re previewing books to ensure they’re appropriate, allowing kiddos to follow their interests in reading will be encouraging for them.  Personally, I do not enjoy Captain Underpants or any books of that ilk (at some point, butts just became less funny… bummer (get it?)), but many volumes of Captain Underpants sit proudly on our son’s bookshelf!

2.  Expose kids to non-gender stereotypical literature –  If your daughter likes superheroes and trucks, awesome!  If your son likes Nancy Drew (ours does) instead of the Hardy Boys, amazing!  Be sure to introduce all kinds of books to your kids so they’re afforded the opportunity to discover their genuine interests.

3.  Don’t take away reading as a form of punishment –  I am very guilty of this.  When the pre-bedtime routine has stretched on for eons, I have often used the “threat” of not having time for reading to spur them on.  This is not a great technique, and diminishes the positivity that should be associated with reading.

4.  Bring books everywhere!  Not the ipad.  Not the phone.  I have to say, it pains me when I see families out to eat together and kids are not only on ipads, but wearing headphones.  How will they learn to interact or behave in a restaurant or other social setting if we’re always hijacking their attention with a screen?  That said, sometimes we do need a palliative measure for major wait times—and this is why we always travel with books.  It’s a healthy stopgap for those times we really need one.

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There are endless benefits from providing a print-rich environment for our children (creating a better attention span, better listeners, spurring creativity!).  Ultimately, reading begets readers.  So let’s help our kids get enthusiastic about reading so they can become avid readers and reap the benefits of a lifetime full of literature!