Reading for pleasure has major benefits for kids, according to new research

Everyone knows that literacy is crucial not only for a child’s development, but for living a successful life. But just how much does early literacy and reading affect kids in the long run? A 2023 study published in The Journal of Psychological Medicine found that children tend to do better on cognitive tests and have better mental health when they’re adolescents if they start reading for pleasure before age 9, as reported by The Washington Post. 

Other benefits included better memory, speech development, fewer signs of stress and depression, fewer behavioral problems, and higher academic achievement. These children also slept longer and spent less time on electronic devices than those who started reading for pleasure later in life or not at all. 

Research included testing, clinical assessments, brain scans, and gathering information from parents and teachers for more than 10,000 young adolescents. 

“These findings, for the first time, revealed the important relationships of early reading for pleasure with subsequent brain and cognitive development and mental well-being,” the researchers wrote in the study.

And there are even more benefits even before they become adolescents.

Additionally, Psychology Today reports that parents should always encourage reading for pleasure, especially during the summer months, and that “reading may be just as beneficial as summer school in preventing summer learning loss.”

Ways to encourage your young child to read for pleasure include making it a part of a daily routine, praise and give attention to reading (while being careful about giving material rewards), modeling reading for pleasure, allowing your kids to choose their reading material, and consistently reading to your children from a very young age, even before they can read on their own, according to the Psychology Today article.

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Reading with my kids is one of my favorite things to do as a parent (the snuggles! The stories!), but when it was time for my kids to start learning how to read on their own, I felt a little lost. I’m not an early education expert nor a Montessori guru, but luckily, the pros at Lovevery are. The newly launched Reading Skill Set is a three-part system (sold together or separately) that has everything you need to help your child gain confidence as a reader and build on skills they’ve already learned. No more boring phonics flashcards you have to work to make seem fun. No more endless workbooks and outdated texts. Instead, there’s a storytelling village to set up and explore, and a crossword building game that’ll turn on their thinking caps and actually engage them in play. Whether your kiddo is just getting familiar with letter sounds, is already reading simple 3-sound words or is onto chapter books, there’s a kit that meets them where they are—and challenges them appropriately. Best of all? The games, books and tools included are so fun, they’ll forget they’re actually learning. Which, during the summer months, is a real win!

– Jessica D’Argenio Waller, Motherly’s Editorial Director

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Preventing summer learning loss, improved cognitive ability, better mental health, and having better sleep and screen habits are just some of the ways that learning how to read for pleasure early can affect our kids for the rest of their lives. Reading for pleasure together also makes for a great screen-free family bonding activity to do together regularly. 

A version of this story was originally published on Nov. 13, 2023. It has been updated.