How important is reading to children

Q. Is reading to children all that important? I provide books on tape and they listen to the TV and the radio. Why do they need me to read to them?

A. It is very clear that the single most important thing that parents can do to prepare their children for school is to read to them every night and this is particularly true for boys. Young boys do not always acquire verbal skills at the same rate as young girls. For example, a 20 month-old boy is likely to have half the speaking vocabulary of a 20 month-old girl. Hearing parents speak is the best way for children to learn language skills. Exposing children to TV and tapes does help, but they pay closer attention to their parents. The other part of this is that if a parent reads to a child every night it gives the child a sense of connectedness to her parent that is very important for her self-confidence and self-esteem.