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8th August 2025
08:30am BST
Did you know that experts are now claiming that those countless hours spent reading to your children at night could actually serve an even greater purpose than just making them sleepy and establishing a nice little bedtime routine?
According to a study from the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, researchers found that participatory reading—or engaging your child with a text as opposed to reciting it to them—can actually "turbocharge" their cognitive development.
Having your children take an active part in reading (helping turn the page, asking questions, touching the book you are reading, etc.) can actually make them both smarter and more successful.
"The takeaway for parents in this study is that they should engage more when reading with their child, ask questions, have them turn the page, and interact with each other," said lead study author John Hutton, a pediatrician at Cincinnati Children's, in a recent press release. "In turn, this could fuel brain activation—or 'turbocharge' the development of literacy skills, particularly comprehension, in preschool-aged children."
To come to these results, the US researchers scanned the brains of 22 four-year-old girls during storytime with their mothers. Those who were more engaged with the reading—e.g., filling in the story blanks, turning the page, and touching the pages—showed "increased activation in right-sided cerebellar areas of the brain," which is associated with "cognitive skill acquisition and refinement via connection to language, association, and executive function areas."
One thing that is important to note is that the researchers also emphasized the importance of limiting cell phone usage during storytime; as this was seen as the most common preventable barrier throughout the study.
There you have it, parents: Put down the phones and go pick up a book. It will be all sorts of good for both you and your child.
