The Importance Of Reading And How It Can Help Our Children.

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There is something very special about books, whether you are reading them on the way to work or school, in the bath, snuggled up on the sofa or reading with your children as a bedtime story. Books have this power that seems to be able to widen our imaginations and transport us to worlds we could over dream of.

Books are also the perfect way to open up conversation with children about different situations, emotions and issues they may be facing or may face in the future. There are so many great books out there now that get across a whole host of messages that are easy for kids to understand. Through pictures and words these books are the perfect tools to address any issues you are struggling to talk to your children about.

One of my favourite books that I have read to both my children before starting school has been "You, Me and Empathy" written by Janeen Sanders and illustrated by Sofia Cardoso.

The book explores a range of feelings & emotions and encourages children to discuss their feelings. The book covers various feelings and shows children that it is ok and perfectly normal to feel happy, sad, worried or mad and helps them to open up about those feelings.

The story is written from the first hand perspective of Quinn, a young child who talks about his feelings and how he uses the way others have made him feel to show empathy back. He expresses his feelings and talks about some of the things that have made him feel happy, sad and the book even covers how bullying can make us feel.

At the bottom of most of the pages through this book there are also questions relating to the story for you to ask your children as you read along. Questions such as "who looks after you when you are sick? How do they make you feel?" really encouraging kids to talk about their emotions and the different things they might feel at different times.

The book also heavily covers showing empathy, something I think is an important skill for kids to learn especially when heading to school. It also opens up the conversation to discuss feelings and how others might be feeling with your child. When they head into a classroom full of 30 other children it can seem very daunting but being able to discuss how they are feelings makes it much easier to convey this to a teacher who in turn can help.

Books are such a useful took and there are so many fantastic books out there that cover topics that often seem tricky to discuss with children whereas books can convey the message in a beautiful way that kids can really relate to.

New research from BookTrust, the UK’s largest children’s reading charity, finds that only just over half of children (51 per cent) aged between 8 - 11 actually speak with their parents when they are feeling stressed, sad or worried and a staggering 44% per cent say that they try to forget about the problem or don’t say anything and deal with it to themselves.

I think that is pretty staggering and I know that most parents would hate to think that their child didn't feel like they could open up to them, But reading to our children, helping them understand their emotions and feelings as well as giving them that time and opportunity to open up to us as parents can make all the difference.

The research highlights the important of reading for children's mental health and comes as the charity is set to give out over 700,000 free copies of Rob Hodgson's laugh-out-loud picture book "The Cave" to every school starter in England as part of its annual Time to Read campaign. 

The research is one of the many reasons why the "Time to Read" Campaign from the Book Trust is so important. The Time to Read campaign launched in September 2016, encouraging parents and carers or primary aged children to keep reading with their children, even once they have learned to read for themselves. 
So to celebrate all the fantastic work the Book Trust do and their Time To Read campaign, how would you like the chance to win a Book Trust goody bag full of beautiful books to share with your children? Well you could win all these books shown below by entering our simply giveaway below. For your chance to win just complete as many of the entry options below as you wish. A winner will then be selected at random to win all of these lovely books!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

But that's not all, there will be even more chances to win on Thursday 19th September over on the Book Trust Twitter page. Head over between 8pm and 9pm and join in the chat using the hashtag #TimeToRead and you could be in with a chance to win a book voucher.  Leading developmental psychologist Emma Kenny will be answering questions alongside other great bloggers to help discuss and share the importance of reading and answering any of your questions. 

I look forward to chatting to you all over there on Thursday. Also don't forget to share your favourite books below in the comments, I am always looking for new suggestions to read with the kids!


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** I received payment for this post. However all words and opinions are my own and I retain full control of the content.**

** GIVEAWAY TERMS & CONDITIONS**

- This giveaway is open to UK residents only 
- All entries will be checked any entries that are not followed correctly will be disqualified. 
- I will use rafflecopter to select a random winner. The winner will be contacted via email and will have 30 days to respond. After the date a new winner will be chosen. 
- The prize will be sent directly from the PR. I am not responsible for the delivery of the prize or for missing prizes.