Read to your child. It's as simple as that. Today's #ReaditTorial

From the moment our daughter was born, we were determined that we would read to her.

But why?

Were we following some smug middle-class article in the Sunday Telegraph magazine claiming that reading to your child is one of the most important nurturing activities you can take part in?

Er, no.

Were we following official education guidelines or advice from any government bodies, promoting literacy and learning?

Nope.

Did we do it because Supernanny or some other celebrity told us to?

HAHAHAHAHAHHAA you are joking, right?

Were we trying to make up for some inadequacy we felt we needed to redress while balancing a hectic work / home life, ensuring we portioned off a bit of our day for our daughter so that she had our undivided time and attention?

Well, sort of a bit of that. The truth, as horribly middle class and smug as it may sound (despite the fact we're neither of these things) is that my wife and I instinctively knew this was something that we genuinely wanted to do. We've written about this on the blog time and time again, and yet it's always amusing to see national newspapers and child care gurus seemingly stumbling across "reading bedtime stories to your kid" like Indiana Jones balancing a golden idol in one hand, and a bag of sand in the other, then writing about this miraculous method of building a strong relationship and a love of books like it's ambrosia from the gods and all new, all shiny, all encompassing.

How do you get kids to love books? How else but to begin their reading journeys by reading to them, then eventually with them - and as is the case with us - beyond the point where they are confident solo readers who have their own taste and enjoyment of reading material (which, hah, would not have even really been a thing in the first place if we'd tried some stupid force-fed method of pushing books on her against her will).

Sure it's also fair to say that if your child grows up in a house filled with YOUR books, or sees you reading more than just your phone screen, or hears you excitedly talking about what you're reading at the moment, that will sink in, that will be heard, that will be taken notice of by them.

Many articles state that to build a reader you've got to be a reader yourself, again like they're whispering Colonel Sanders' own chicken coating recipe to you.

It's only partly true that you need to be a reader to build a reader, but it's not the be-all and end all. My brother in law and his wife would not consider themselves widely read, and don't read for pleasure or leisure themselves, but they read to their kids every day and every bedtime, and make books available to them.

They will take time to do this even though they're as busy as we are, knowing that even a small investment of time (say, 10 minutes before bedtime) goes at least some way to ensuring their kids develop both a strong bond with them, but also a love of books too.

Back in 2013 when I embarked on a whole year of trying to cook up new ways of developing and writing articles encouraging parents to read to their kids, I had no idea that six years later it would still need to be a message that needs repeating, a message that the benefits to you and your child pretty much speak for themselves.

I have to shamefacedly admit defeat after that year of 'theming' our reviews and articles for an entire year. I'd also have to admit that outside the blog I no longer try to passionately push my belief that reading to your kids is vital and important on parents who still feel that an evening spent gazing listlessly at their phones or the telly is a better way to spend their time.

Just as it was back in 2013, or even back in 2010 when we started this blog, it's still seen as something of a novelty to have a dad and daughter book blogging duo harping on about books on the internet (though thankfully quite a lot of dads have kicked off their own brilliant book blogs, we're pleased to say). Other dads still weirdly don't see it as 'their job to read to their kids, their mum does that'. Sadly in a lot of cases, neither parent bothers and that's just too frickin' sad for words because I bet their kids would actually welcome either of them doing so if they could just TRY!!!

I've given up trying to preach at folk like this, partly because I'm growing really weary of the weird side-eye you get from folk as a grown-up children's book blogger but also because I firmly believe that if you have to preach this stuff at parents in the first place, and that they haven't arrived at the conclusion themselves, they would not be in it for the long haul.

Sure, they might do it for a week or two but would slip out of the habit the first time some fleeting distraction or 'very important grown up thing' pulled them away from being able to read to their littlies. Some parents just don't seem to get it, and I really don't know why. 

Again and again though I've heard the same bleating and quite frankly crappy excuses.

"We don't have the time" or "Books are expensive" or "I'm not a confident read-aloud reader".

I'll let the last one pass, though again it's amazing how quickly you can really get into reading aloud and developing your own reading confidence if - again you JUST TRY!

But there's also this. It's not just about turning your little one into a nicely rounded well educated individual. The simple act of settling down with your children and reading to them is an act of love that they will remember, and will treasure - maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but certainly at some point in the future when perhaps it's time for them to have their own kids, and they think back on the times you spent together.

Demonstrating to your child that for the ten or more minutes it takes you to read through the average picture book, or longer later on when you start chipping away at chapter books with them, that they are the centre of your world is hugely powerful. Your bloody phone or your instagram followers, or your social media contacts won't love you back in any way, shape or form as much as your own child will.

I am beginning to sound ranty, but as I said, this is probably the last time I'll try and underline just how important reading to your child is by shouting about it on this blog (sure I'll probably go back on this promise, but hey, I'm trying to be honest here).

It is important. It's vital in fact. It has such a visible and brilliant impact on everything from developing their love of books, to helping them build up their own desire to solo read, to helping them build their confidence and language skills in school, developing a strong bond and relationship with you, and of course helping them to be curious and passionate about other subjects at school other than just English and literacy.

As I said above twice. Just try, please just try, even if you secretly know in your heart that you won't keep it up or won't make a regular thing of it.

You really don't know what you'll be missing out on if you don't try.