Do This Daily Activity With Your Kid to Help You Become a Better Parent, Study Says

There have been a handful of studies which show kids reap rewards from reading with parents. Not only does it encourage them to use their imaginations, but it also strengthens their vocabulary. Now, a new study from Rutgers says reading together also offers benefits for parents too. Win-win.

Parents who regularly read with their toddlers are less likely to engage in harsh parenting practices, the study says. And that’s not all. As an added bonus, their children are less likely to be hyperactive or disruptive.

The study reviewed data on more than 2,000 mother-child pairs from big cities in the US. Women were asked how often they read to their children when they were one and three years old. The mothers were interviewed two years later about how often they engaged in physically and psychologically aggressive discipline and about their children’s behavior. The researchers also controlled for factors such as depression and financial problems, which can contribute to harsh parenting and outbursts from kids.

Pairs who regularly read together when the child was one were associated with less harsh parenting at age 3. Reading together when the child was three was associated with less harsh parenting at 5 years old. Moms who set aside daily time to read with their kids also reported fewer disruptive behaviors from their children.

“For parents, the simple routine of reading with your child on a daily basis provides not just academic, but emotional benefits that can help bolster the child’s success in school and beyond,” says lead researcher Manuel Jimenez, an assistant professor at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School’s department of pediatrics. “Our findings can be applied to programs that help parents and caregivers in underserved areas to develop positive parenting skills.”

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