If, as a parent, you are already and always have been, an avid reader, then reading to your child will just be an extension of the pleasure that you gain from reading by sharing books with your child.

However, if you can instil a love of books and reading to your child, then you will be helping them hugely with their long journey through school.  Almost everything in school, centres on reading and children, who struggle with reading, will have more difficulty in accessing the curriculum.  They may be good at maths or have a good understanding of scientific principles but many maths questions require reading and deciphering the words in a question first.

Many parents are not aware that even young babies can enjoy books.  In the first few months of life, do make sure you talk to your young baby, sing nursery rhymes and respond to his/her babbles and gurgles.  From the age of about 5 or 6 months, introduce looking at simple picture books and point things out, talking about the things that you can see on the pages.  There are many kinds of books available for babies to enjoy which will withstand tough handling; from board books and soft cloth books to plastic coated books which can be looked at in the bath.  As your child grows up, then you can introduce lift-the-flap books or touchy-feely books.  Read stories with expression to keep your child interested and don’t worry about repeated readings of firm favourites.  If you start this at a young age, then, by the time your child is 3, you will find that they will already know which way up to hold a book and that books in English open from right to left!