I was watching my normal Sunday afternoon movie series of Love Comes Softly the other day when a part came up where the mother was talking to her daughter about why reading is so important. The daughter was not convinced, however, that is until she was told about all the adventures you can go on in the pages of a book. Traveling the world while in the comfort of your own home sounded appealing to her. In the next movie, it is the daughter, now school teacher, who is the well-educated woman in the town.

Books change lives. We have people who spend years studying to give us information in Science, in Geology. We even have scriptures and history books to prepare us for when history repeats itself. But more than knowledge and history, reading gives an individual a power to succeed in ways that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. Children are taught this power at an early age so that while their brains are developing, their knowledge is forever increasing as they continue to grow up.

It is important to introduce reading to children by reading to them. When you read to them, especially between the age of birth and 3-years-old because that is when the brain develops the most, their brains will find a love of reading. Throughout my years of education, I have read a lot on the importance reading has to a young mind. I have found that children who are exposed to the written word, even though they are too young to read but a little if any themselves, have a better chance of reading well when they get older. Likewise, the lack of it will have the opposite effect.

Furthermore, once old enough, it's good to have children read aloud because that is when a child will develop an internal voice, which will continue to make reading exciting for when he or she develops enough skills to stop reading out loud and begin reading silently instead. When they reach the point of reading silently, auditory and visual perception will still be involved, so, no matter what kind of reading is done, the brain is forever learning.

A desire to read actually often brings a desire to learn in general. This is why reading seems to have so much effect on the cognitive development. The ability to read is a foundation to a world of learning possibilities; a chance to achieve whatever you put your mind to, and the more you read the more information your brain will accept. It is important to give children this chance because it is during the younger stages of life that the brain is developing, and the more you shape their brains, the more productive their lives will be when they grow up. I strongly believe in all that reading has to offer, and though I do not consider myself an expert in this topic, I have found it to be something of great concern in this day. Give children the power to succeed. The world will one day depend on them.