Reading to your children is a very important bond strengthener. That quality time spent with your son or daughter helps to build memories- good memories.

Some of my favorite memories are those of my father reading and coloring with me, and being 20 years old, those memories are just as vivid as though they were last week. Don't you want your child to have the same memories or better memories of you and him, versus you and your parents?

I do... I mean yea, the memories of my childhood were both good and bad, but I want to make sure that my children have more good memories with me than I can remember with my parents.

Reading to your children on a rainy day, when their bored, or as a nighttime story, will help build those good memories.

Plus, when your child gets of reading age, he can start to read you his favorite stories, some of which may be the ones that you chose to read him.

The problem is that there are SO many children's story books these days, most of which are based on television shows, how do you know which ones are even worth buying, much less reading to your child.

Easy... Go for the classics. The classic stories are those, to me, that are the best.

Classic children's books tend to have loads of pictures, with a decent story that children can follow.

(You'll find some of my favorite classic stories throughout this hub.)

They tend to have funny storylines that may even make you chuckle a bit while you're giving the crazy animal voices and the old man tones.

Reading with your child, opens a whole new world. When reading a far- off adventure, he may ask questions that (1) bring your communication level one step closer and (2) opens his curiosity to learn.

When you read to your children, you can make it fun and interesting by finding books that may resemble an upcoming trip or vacation. Say you're family is going camping in a few weeks; try to find a book where the characters go camping. This will make your child even more interested and excited about the upcoming family trip.

You're a busy person. I mean, most people are these days, but the best thing for you to do at the end of a long, hard workday, is to unwind with a book and your child.

Children benefit from you reading to them. Reading opens up their imagination and improves both their reading and writing skills, which are all important in school and development.

Benefits from reading to your child and developing early reading skills include:

• Phonemic awareness- Ability to hear, identify, and play with individual sounds in spoken words.
• Phonics- Ability to connect the letters of a written word with the sounds of spoken language.
• Vocabulary- Words that kids need to know in order to communicate effectively and efficiently.
• Readingcomprehension- Ability to understand and get the meaning from what has been read.
• Fluency (oral reading)- Ability to read accurately and quickly.

• Turn off the TV- Limit your family's television viewing times.
• Teach by example- If your child sees you reading a book, newspaper, magazine, or other written text, he will learn to value reading as he thinks you do.
• Read together- Reading with your child is a great activity that teaches your child that reading is important to you and it can bring together your communication with your child.
• Hit the library- Try finding library books that may interest your child or resemble his life or your family's and read them together.

It's never too late to start reading to your child!

Say that over and over again to yourself. Reading is fundamental to every child's development, so it's never too late to start.

And, on that note, it's never too early to start, either.

For babies, toddlers, and younger children, you can sit and read to them before they can even talk, before they can read. You want to try to instill upon them the want to read when they're older.

You want to help boost their vocabulary when they do start to babble and baby- talk.

There's no time too early or too late to read to your children. Start reading to you baby when in the womb, and stop reading to your child when he asks you to or when he says "Mom I can read, ya know?"