Teaching children to grow into mature, secure adults is incredibly challenging. Unfortunately, many kids face difficult or traumatic situations very early in life. These experiences can make it challenging for them to build trust, develop meaningful relationships and live their lives to the fullest.
One way to help children understand and move through tough experiences is with reading. Here’s how reading helps kids with mental health.
1. Teach Observation
Reading is an excellent way to help children develop their natural observation skills. Books present new ideas in a comfortable way and help them ask questions about the world around them.
Learning to use their senses and developing intuition can help children process life experiences. Change and new information can be stressful for kids, and reading can equip them to know how to respond when they encounter things that are new or feel overwhelming.
2. Create Safety
Engaging with stories also creates safety for kids. When they’re immersed in a book, they can take a break from everyday stress and difficult situations. Being transported to another place, person and time can be incredibly restorative and healing, even though it doesn’t change their reality.
Children are incredibly vulnerable and lack the strength or maturity to control their environments. Teaching them to read can help them feel safe and find meaning outside of their circumstances. Books are a window into possibilities and can offer kids hope even in very bleak situations.
3. Foster Conversations
Although reading is a powerful processing tool in its own right, it can also be a launching pad for meaningful conversations. You can use books as a teaching tool by reading them with your kids and asking them to engage with the story.
For instance, you can ask your children what they think about what is happening. How does it make them feel? If they were the main character, would they respond this way? Why or why not? Drawing out your child’s feelings will help you understand their needs and simultaneously teach them to process their inner world.
4. Explain Emotions
Emotions can easily overwhelm kids, especially if they’re feeling strong ones like fear, anger and grief. Kids are still learning about themselves and their world, and they often blame themselves for situations that make them feel bad.
Talking to children about how emotions make them feel, what their feelings mean and how to respond equips them with an essential life skill. It can also help them recognize the signs of deep anxiety or depression in their friends and family.
5. Offer Language
Books give words to the language of living – something kids are still actively figuring out. When you read to children about emotions and how to respond to them, you give them the language they need for everyday life.
Statements like, “I feel ______, but I know ______” can help kids manage their emotions and respond to life situations with maturity. At the same time, books also show children that emotions aren’t bad in themselves. It’s not what you feel but your response to those feelings that matters.
6. Model Behavior
Children are looking for people to imitate as they grow and encounter new situations. Reading can equip kids with appropriate behavior for many issues they may or may not be actively experiencing. For instance, teaching them how to ask a friend if they’re OK can give them concrete steps to take when they’re worried about someone.
This method also works in reverse – books are a great opportunity to talk about how someone shouldn’t behave. Discussing a story character’s feelings and choices allows you to teach appropriate behavior without making an individual child who’s acted out feel ashamed.
7. Develop Empathy
Reading expands children’s imaginations, teaching them to consider things from more than one perspective. Through stories, they can learn about the value of cultures and life experiences that are different from their own.
Many studies suggest that reading develops empathy, the skill of imagining another person’s emotions and experiences. Expressing this is a meaningful way to show love and is an essential skill for every mature person.
Books Have Lifelong Value
It’s helpful to understand how reading helps kids emotionally. They learn to process emotions, develop their imaginations and enlarge their perspectives. Using literature to engage with your children is a highly effective way to equip them with the tools they need to navigate their lives.
Many children experience extremely challenging situations, and reading can equip them to process their emotions and gain a sense of comfort and clarity. Spend time reading with your kids, and they’ll continue to benefit from books for the rest of their lives.