Reading train - Improve your reading skills

which is more preferred by children, reading story books by themselves or listening to stories by others?

Public Comments

1. My brother liked being read to because id always do different voices for the different characters, makes it more exciting i guess..
2. i think both are important... when children listen they also learn a lot about pronunciation of words etc and it gets them interested into reading themselves..
3. When children are younger, being read to is best, as this helps them pronounce words and learn new words, and they can ask what something means if they don't understand. But, as they got older, they should read themselves to develop their understanding of the English language and writing techniques. I personally, prefer reading, but I think it varies between people.
4. When I was a child, I loved being read to, but I lost interest in it completely once I learnt to read myself, all I wanted to do was read by myself after that. From the age of about eight I never wanted to be read to again. However, my second son is now ten years old, and although he is a very fluent reader, he still loves me to read to him, which I find very surprising.
5. Actually both are important. When a child is very young it is necessary for parents to read to it. This becomes interesting to the child when the parent has the ability to change tone and pitch as he or she imitates various characters. Children admire parents who can do such things but as the child grows up he should read on his own so as to develop his vocabulary but most children still appreciate being read to even as they grow up for this leads to a strengthening of bonds between parent and child and the ideal is that both read together and can express their ideas to each other as the years pass. Read along books where books are sold along with a cassette narrating the story are very popular which shows that children appreciate being read to and if the parent can do it in the place of a machine it would be much better and more entertaining to the child.
6. It definitely depends on their age AND mood. My daughter has just started reading on her own. But still likes me to read certain things to her (I throw in different voices and some sound effects).