Read to Baby Now -- Save on Tutoring Later

Those bedtime stories are really paying off. According to a new study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 15-year-old students whose parents read books to them regularly during their grade school years have higher test scores than students whose parents didn’t read to them frequently. The OECD runs the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which tests teenagers from around the world in reading comprehension and problem-solving with math and science. OECD assesses each student for their ability to succeed in college and the real world.

For the study, researchers asked the parents of 5,000 students in different countries different questions about how they raised their children and compared those findings with the students’ test scores. According to the New York Times, the OECD found that parental involvement in a child’s learning and school life can have as much of an impact as private tutoring. Times’ writer Thomas Friedman urges parents to stay engaged and focused in their children’s education in his op-ed “How About Better Parents?” We couldn’t agree more!

Do you read to your child? What are some ways you plan to stay involved with your child’s learning?

Plus, more from The Bump:

More Pregnancy and Parenting News

Fun Books to Read to Baby

Is It Too Early to Start Teaching My Child to Read?

-- Sarah Yang

See More: Baby Basics , Milestones , Parenting Styles