When I was in school back in 90’s, our teachers use to say that books are man’s best friends. There were other sayings as well like ‘Buy an old coat but a new book.’ What an era it was! All the children were full of life. They went outside for playing games with neighbourhood friends. They used to write letters. Girls used to play ‘ghar ghar’ and boys ‘gully cricket’; together they used to play ’stop and party’.

          I wrote everything; technically I typed everything in past tense because nothing of the above seems today. Every child is so busy catching up with the pace of fast growing, technologically driven world that they do not enjoy little moments. Little children have to carry their heavy bags. Some schools do have no book fundamental; there, the children have to carry ipads and laptops.

          Today, families do not have enough time for spending with each other. Children and parents sit together but they are in their own worlds of gadgets. There is immense loss of human touch.

          According to many researches, the best time a child and parent can spend is while reading. There are a lot of positive aspects of reading for all age groups but for children it is most important that they read or be read by parents.

          While reading, parents would get immense insight of how their child grabs information which does not happen with other modes of media like television or radio. Here, while reading, parent can make out by studying their child’s expressions and response whether they are grasping information or not. Parent would make out the amount of words or even colours (if it’s a picture book) their child knows. A parent can know that does their child have the understanding of a particular story or the lessons that are taught through the story.

          By maintaining bedtime rituals or reading bedtime books to children, one can create life long bond of understanding, views and characterization. Before that last good night ritual always make time to read. Even reading a page per day is helpful

Reading has following impressions on a child

• Enhance their Vocabulary – by reading different kind of books, they come across millions of words, which helps them to enhance their vocabulary.

• Help in grasping, learning, reading. – Daily reading for 20 minutes, will help them understand different aspects that life throws through its twisted ways.

• Increase their concentration power. – Due to lot of reading, get use to focusing in what they are doing as story makes them hold on to what they are reading.

• Enhance their communication skill. – With reading lot of books, they go through lot of conversations, dialogues through which they grasp the communication skills.

• Creates logical and situational thinking

• If a child reads 20 minutes a day than by the end of the week 100 minutes of studying material/Book on average, he/she reads 400 minutes by the end of the month and 4800 minutes in a year.

• Reading inculcates imagination power unlike watching videos which stamps the impression of a particular image on a child’s mind for years to come. Hence, hampering exponential brain growth.

• A child’s mind is very delicate and can process information in a very eloquent way. Bedtime reading can enhance this brain power and can develop deep understanding of things, studies say.

• Regular reading with parents and making children recall what they read the previous night helps in enhancing memory power.

Who says, books are no longer a man’s best friends. They truly are man’s best friend. More than that they a child’s BFF.