It is extremely important to read aloud to your children. It is important for not only parents to read to their kids at home, it is also just as important for teachers to read aloud to kids while they are in school. Studies have shown that the most important thing you can do to build the knowledge that a child needs to be a successful reader is to read aloud to them.
Surprisingly, it is still important to read aloud to kids even after they can read fluently on their own. There are several reasons why it is so important. For one, it will condition children to associate reading with something pleasurable. Children, just like most people, will want to keep doing something that they enjoy. If they have a good experience, they will want to keep right on doing whatever it was that made them happy. Reading aloud to a child is most always a pleasurable experience for them. It is also vital in building their vocabulary, and it provides them with a good background of knowledge to build upon.
So how does a child learn phonics if they are being read to and not practicing it themselves? Although learning phonics is one part of learning to read, it is just that, only one part. What is actually more important is the motivation to read, and increasing their knowledge. The only way a child will be motivated to read, and thus increase their knowledge base, is to enjoy reading. This in turn brings us back to the fact that reading to children causes them to associate reading and pleasure.
It has been shown that children who have been read to at least three times every week before they reach kindergarten have a better awareness of phonics than those who were not read to as much.