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This article was kindly provided by Frances Weir, inventor of bigbooklittlebookcardboardbox.

Studies have shown, time and time again, how early encouragement of reading leads to improved language and literacy, which in turns leads to academic success and lifelong social/emotional wellbeing.

It’s a heartbreaking statistic – over half of teachers say they have seen at least one child start school having never been read a story before. The odds are stacked against such children succeeding in life – parental encouragement of reading is the most important determinant of literacy, more so than social class, household income, family size and parental education.

It’s never too early to start – the Bookstart scheme (which provides free books at three key stages before a child starts school) has shown that parents who introduce their babies to books give them a headstart and advantage over their peers throughout primary school. Young babies love the warmth of your company and the sound and rhythm of your voice, long before they can understand the words. Babies can start to learn to enjoy books from birth as you show them brightly coloured pictures and name the objects or sing a rhyme about the picture.

Once your baby becomes a toddler, you’ll find that books become ever more important. Let them select the stories they want you to read to them – often they’ll want their favourite stories over and over again, but this is important as they grow and learn. Relate what is happening in the book to your child’s own experience: “Look, there’s a bus. Do you remember we went on a bus the other day – who did we go to see?” As your child gets older, ask them to describe what is happening in the story, to help develop their own storytelling skills.

Tips to encourage an early love of reading

1)    Start early – from birth and make reading aloud part of every day

2)    Be a good role model (including Dads – fathers’ reading habits can have substantial influence on their children’s ability to read, their levels of interest and their reading choices). Let children see you read to learn information (e.g. a recipe) and see you reading for pleasure.

3)    Provide a print-rich environment – have a wide variety of books always available to your children. Wherever possible, store books forward-facing as babies and toddlers select books by looking at their covers.

4)    Join the library and visit often, encouraging your child to choose what books they would like to take out.

More than anything else you can do for your child, encouraging an early love of reading provides the best possible foundation for lifelong success and happiness. Curling up together and sharing a book is a hugely rewarding activity that creates a lasting bond and lays down cherished childhood memories.

bigbooklittlebookcardboardbox is a green, affordable children’s bookcase, designed to encourage an early love of reading. The box holds up to 40 books, forward-facing, so children can flick through, to select the books they want (you) to read. The front of the box is at baby-crawling height, meaning babies can easily see inside, thus more likely to select a book over another activity.