Deaf Dad: Why fathers should read to their children

I read to my children every night, but many fathers don’t. Here’s my article for parenting website Yano about why fathers should read to their kids.

Every family has a bedtime routine, and we are no different. At around 6.15pm every night, it begins. Our daughters have their bath, brush their teeth, get their pyjamas on, and then, usually after a number of protests and appeals, they finally agree to settle into bed ready for my wife and I to read them their stories.

Reading with them is really important to us. Our daughters are four and two years old, and because they’re both into different books, we swap who we read to every night. Martha, four, is currently into Horrid Henry tales. Meanwhile, Edie, two, loves The Tiger Who Came To Tea.

Our evenings have been like this for nearly three years so, until recently, I thought reading to my girls every night was perfectly normal – that all dads do it. But it turns out I am in the minority, because according to Booktrust, only one in eight fathers reads with his children.

To read the rest of this article, go to: http://yano.co.uk/2013/03/fathers-read-to-their-children/