Do Dads Read Aloud Differently? And Why It’s Important That Fathers Do Storytime

Do you remember your father reading to you? Or if you’re a dad now, do you enjoy reading time with the kids?

We were enlightened by some fascinating research by Dr Elisabeth Duursma. While at Harvard University, Dr Duursma looked at the benefits associated with fathers reading to their kids. She found that dads on low incomes who read to their children at age three had a major impact on their child’s language development when measured one year later.

Further research has indicated that when it was the mother, it did not have the same significant impact on child development.

So what’s different about dads reading?

In part, it’s perception: ‘Reading is seen as a female activity and kids seem to be more tuned in when their dad reads to them – it’s special.’

Michael Rosen, the author of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, is one son who remembers his father’s read-aloud sessions. He told The Guardian:

When I was about 12, our father decided that he would read to us on our camping holidays and over several of these holidays he read the whole of Great Expectations, Little Dorrit and a Walter Scott novel, Guy Mannering…

Because he was in the US army, he was very good at American accents and he read us Catcher in the Rye and Catch-22 when I was in my teens.

Duursma also found significant differences in the style of language dads use:

‘We found that fathers used more abstract and complex language.
When sharing a book with their child, they would often link events in the book to a child’s own experience.’

‘For example, when a ladder was discussed in the book, many fathers mentioned the last time they had used a ladder to climb up on the roof or use it for their work. Mothers focused more on the details in the book and often asked children to label or count objects or identify colours.’

This is not to say that mothers shouldn’t read to their kids!

In her full article, Duursma also mentions how mothers lay the groundwork for children’s language development as well as the cumulative benefit of more book reading by both parents and others in children’s lives.

(Sources: University of Wollongong; Daily Mail UK; The Guardian)

So go ahead and get Dad involved in storytime, knowing it’s the best thing for all sorts of reasons!