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I’ve been reading aloud each night to my kids, now ages 4 and 7, since they were just a few days old. But once my 7-year-old began to read fluently on her own, our bedtime story time transformed into us quietly reading side by side, each with a book in hand.
It turns out, I am not the only parent who stopped reading aloud to her children once they learned to read on their own − only 37% of families reported reading aloud to their 6- and 8-year-old kids in 2024. This compares with 51% of families who read aloud to their very young children, under 4 years old.
Our lead story today by Erin Clabough, a neuroscientist at the University of Virginia, is making me rethink this recent shift in our evening routine. In the article, Clabough explains the results of her recently published study that examined the impact of reading on older children’s creativity and empathy. She describes these two skills as superpowers that help children predict behavior and navigate social situations safely.
Reading isn’t “just about preparing kids to sleep or teaching them to decode words,” Clabough writes. “They’re building neural pathways for understanding others and imagining possibilities. With repeated practice, these connections strengthen, just like practicing piano.”
She adds: “In a world designed to pull families toward screens, bedtime reading remains a refuge where parent and child share the same imaginative space.”
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