It’s common knowledge that reading on a regular basis can help a child achieve academic success. This is because reading can improve problem-solving, logical thinking, reasoning, and other crucial skills. But this isn’t the only reason why reading is important. Reading can also help your child develop the social skills they will rely on throughout their childhood and adulthood. How does reading help a child’s social development? Here are some of the ways:

Increases Empathy

Studies have shown that reading fiction stories can improve a child’s ability to understand what other people are thinking and feeling. Reading a fiction story allows a child to see the world through the characters’ eyes. This gives kids a unique opportunity to understand someone’s beliefs, intentions, and motivations.

Kids carry these skills over into the real world, where they are used to show empathy to others. Showing empathy helps kids connect with others, communicate, and respond appropriately to various situations, so it is a vital social skill.

Conflict Resolution

It’s hard to teach a child how to handle conflict in different types of social situations. The best way to learn the proper way to respond to conflict is through life experience, which kids don’t have at a young age. Fortunately, kids can also start to develop these important skills by reading on a regular basis.

Reading will give kids a chance to see how different types of social conflict arise, how the characters react, and how conflict is ultimately resolved. By reading, they can learn the best and worst ways to deal with conflict in the real world. As a result, they will be equipped with the skills they need to solve social conflicts in their own life.

Conversation Starters

Some children find it hard to meet new friends because they aren’t sure how to initiate a conversation with someone else. This is especially common in children who are extremely shy and introverted. Failing to connect with others at a young age may hinder a child’s social development, but reading may help parents resolve this problem.

Reading provides kids with a wide range of topics that they can use to spark up a conversation with other kids. For example, kids can ask their peers if they’ve read the latest book in a popular series. Or, if your child is reading a nonfiction book about outer space, they can share a fun fact or ask a question in order to start a conversation about this topic.

Talking about what they’re reading is a great way for kids to break the ice<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>, so it will help them branch out and make new friends.

Improve Concentration and Patience

Studies have shown that reading improves concentration and patience. Not only will these skills help a child perform better in school, but they will also help a child’s social development.

Patience and concentration are two of the most crucial listening skills. If someone isn’t patient, they may interrupt you before you are finished talking, for example. Without strong concentration skills, they may not even hear what you’re actually saying. No one wants to engage in a conversation with someone who isn’t really listening or interested in what you have to say.

Developing these skills will help your child learn how to be present, give others their full attention, and engage in meaningful conversations.

Learn About the World

Reading will introduce children to diverse characters with different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, family structures, and physical appearances. Being exposed to diverse characters will help your child gain a deeper understanding of and respect for others .

Learning about the world will help children understand that there is beauty in diversity. They won’t grow up fearing people who are different from them. Instead, they will celebrate their differences. Having this mindset will allow them to build friendships with a diverse group of children and live a more fulfilling life.

Get Help For Struggling Readers

Don’t let your child fall behind simply because they are not strong readers. Instead, make sure they get the help they need to succeed by downloading the Readability app. This app uses artificial intelligence and advanced speech recognition technology to listen to your kids read aloud. If your child makes a mistake, the virtual tutor will instantly correct them so they can learn from their errors.

Using the Readability app can help kids dramatically improve their reading skills. If you’re ready to see results, start your free 7-day trial today.