The Early Years (Ages 0-5)

For many parents, the first few years of parenting can be both exhilarating and exhausting, filled with a child’s first milestones. Throughout the many early mornings, sleepless nights and constant curveballs, children’s books are an essential part of early parenting. From generating that very first giggle and honing fine motor skills to introducing new concepts and exploring the world, books help foster life’s special moments and build a bond between parents and their little ones.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is a strong advocate of this idea, recommending that parents begin reading to children from birth. Indeed many families follow this guidance, with more than half of parents with children under five years old (55%) saying they started reading books aloud to their child when they were less than six months old. However, that still leaves 45% of parents who are not reading to their child from the earliest moments, which is concerning given our understanding that read-aloud frequency only declines as kids age. Fifty-one percent of preschoolers (age 0-5) are read aloud to at home 5-7 days a week, compared to 37% of 6-8 year olds and 16% of 9-11 year olds. So how do we have more parents reading aloud, more frequently? Routine, routine, routine.