Parenting

A video is efficient. Everything you need is right there — you just watch. So what exactly is different about reading a book instead?

Handing over a phone when a baby is crying is one of the easiest fixes there is. Easy, and understandable — but worth pausing on.

A baby can’t ask for a book. So why start reading aloud this early at all?

Once school starts, homework arrives, and screen time starts competing with a whole new set of demands on a child’s day.

Somewhere around three, a switch flips: suddenly there are favorite shows, favorite characters, and a lot more of what feels like real conversation.

Somewhere between one and two, walking turns into running, and suddenly you’re the one trying to keep up.

One child reads three picture books in the middle of a busy afternoon of play. Another reads just one, quietly, right before bed. Which one is more likely to remember what they read?

Once a child starts school and can sound out words on their own, it’s tempting to think read-aloud time is done. Is it, though?