Reading to Our Youngest Readers
A guest essay from Sasha Kahn
Welcome to another guest essay here on A Wonderful Mess. It has been wonderful to have other writers share their words here. To fill you in if you are new here, I have been lucky to have the assistance of some guest writers as I recover from shoulder surgery. And the gift of this experience is that others get to share what they are passionate about in this wonderful, messy space. Today, our guest author will be writing about something I am also very passionate about—supporting children’s literacy. Not just our children but all children. If you read here regularly, you know books are regularly featured, but this is beyond looking at our own bookshelves and cozy reading nooks. It’s the question of how we empower all families with access to what they need to grow and thrive. There are a lot of avenues to do this, and I am so happy to have our guest writer, Sasha Kahn, here this week to share a path with you. The new year is approaching, and so often, we find ourselves looking in—what do I want for myself this year? We can look out as well. What do you want to see in the world? I, for one, want to see a whole lot more books available to everyone.
Sasha Kahn is the author and illustrator of the picture book series Crash the Cub, released in Fall 2024. She has written numerous screenplays, developed a series for the Own Network, and her adaptation of The Beast in the Jungle was produced Off-Broadway. She writes Child + Line, a (mostly) humorous newsletter for parents.
Thank you, Sasha, for being in the mess with us.
When the Surgeon General warned that parents were at their breaking point, the nation took notice. Social media blew up; podcasters were quick to record their conversations, and parents affirmed; “we are indeed exhausted and stressed!”
The American Academy of Pediatrics recently came out with its own statement, and no one blinked. I didn’t either; for good reason. I hadn’t heard about it.
It took a tennis match for the news to break, as breaking news generally happens… I struck up a random conversation with someone who turned out to be a pediatrician. He asked what I did for a living. When I told him I created picture books, his eyes lit up and he asked me what I thought of the AAP’s stance on literacy in conjunction with Reach Out and Read, of which he was a participant. I asked him to educate me.
Reach Out and Read provides books, educational support, research, and recommendations via a direct pipeline to pediatricians. The organization encourages pediatricians to discuss the importance of sharing books with families during check-ups. The act of reading aloud, pointing at illustrations, talking about stories, making funny vocalizations, and naming are some of the strongest ways parents can support the brain development of a child. Early reading sets children up not just for increased cognitive development, better language skills, and stronger performance during school years, but also serves to improve parental attachment and secure those early relationships. By providing positive routine enforcement, calming and coping strategies, reading reduces problematic behaviors in children and even mediates parental stress. It helps parents cope.
When I think about reading to babies, I can’t help but conjure the scene in Three Men and a Baby where Tom Selleck is crooning his way through a particularly ‘violent’ and bloody article on sports and Steve Gutenberg walks in and asks with dismay, “What are you reading her?” As the baby plays with his nose, Selleck replies in the same crooning voice, “It doesn’t matter what I read… it’s the tone you use. She doesn’t understand the words anyway. Now where were we?”
It's a brilliant scene for so many reasons (in what, upon thinking about it decades after its release, is a very funny but really strange movie). But the science has evolved. We know just how much reading matters and contributes to early child development. We know that “specific literacy skills, evident years before children learn to decode print, are affected by genetic, medical, and environmental factors; the eco-bio-developmental model of emergent literacy emphasizes the importance of the home literacy environment, manifested in the presence of children’s books in the home, the frequency and quality of reading with children, and family attitudes.”
In 2014, when the AAP initiative was first announced, the New York Times ran a big headline: Pediatrics Group to Recommend Reading Aloud to Children From Birth. A lot has happened since then – for one thing, the APA has updated its recommendation around screen time for children 0-2. The evidence has shown that there’s no good amount of screen time.
At the time, new research had come out that showed there were gaps in performance for children as young as 18 months old who were not read aloud to daily as opposed to those read to daily, prompting the initial recommendation to read aloud to children from birth. The evidence of the benefits of early reading has only expanded since then, and now the AAP program in conjunction with Reach Out and Read has expanded as well, prompting the revised recommendation.
We’re surrounded by seemingly insurmountable problems; decreasing literacy rates, omnipresent screens, poverty, climate change, inflation, deep divisions in politics and it’s easy to feel like the weight of it all is unremitting and overwhelming. Another thought is to consider that these issues are prescient and indicative of a larger ecosystem at work. And these are the conversations that are bringing about change.
I think we can say that most parents, regardless of economic status or education, want the best for our children. We want them to read. We want them to receive an education. For many, who’ve come from a stable economic background, those are attainable goals. On Substack, I often feel like I’m preaching, or at least writing, to the choir. But there are many for whom that isn’t the natural progression, and even if they want to provide it, they may not be able to.
Programs like this become vital in expanding accessibility and reach. Beyond the caregiver-child relationship, how can we effect positive change in the life of a child, what are the experiences that we can influence for a child? How can we frame the discussion with decision-makers?
The stats speak to positive trends: in 2014, Reach Out and Read was a network of 20,000 pediatricians. Since then, it’s grown its network to 36,000 clinicians. In 2023, the program served 4.4 million children, more than 171k children than in the previous year. The goal is to reach 10 million children by 2030. I hope they succeed.
We can point to all the evidence-backed benefits, but it’s simpler than that; children, full of natural wonder, will crawl into the lap of a caregiver and fully give themselves to the experience of being read to. They will relish the connection and seek it out. Today’s parents are stressed. And there is a wide segment of the population that needs resources and help. We can donate books to Reach Out and Read, and they have recommendations and resources that many will find helpful. Reading to a child may just be one of the easiest and most rewarding parts of parenting. Every family should have this gift.
For further information:
https://www.aap.org/en/policy/
You can find more of Sasha’s writing at
and by visiting her website.
As always—Just a little reminder: The content on A Wonderful Mess posted by Dr. Kathryn Barbash, PsyD, is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for medical, clinical, legal, or professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Reliance on any information provided is solely at your own risk. Always seek the advice of your licensed mental health professional or other qualified health provider.
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Thank you Sasha for being a guest writer in the mess!
Great article by Sasha Kahn. The joy of reading to a child, and benefits of reading for the child, make it a win, win situation!