Why reading Dr Seuss is good for your child's development
Here's how it works.
By Practical Parenting
March 13 2017
Dr Seuss books are fun to read but it turns out they have another added benefit.
Publishing over 60 children's books, including Green Eggs and Ham and The Cat In A Hat, Dr Theodor Seuss Geisel'a writing style also helps children develop their language skills.
Here's how it works:
Rhythm helps children understand language
The English language often consists of iambic pentameter (the rhythm can be written as Da DUM on repeat), Professor LouAnn Gerken, Ph.D told Fatherly.
However, Gerken says Dr Seuess wrote almost exclusively in the anapest meter - two short syllables followed by a long one (de de DUM, on repeat). A pattern that helps children “understand language more precisely".
Made up words help children
According to a Cambridge Professor, Maria Nikolajeva, made up words do wonders for a child’s development.
Nikolajeva said, according to The Telegraph, London: “Puns, linguistic inventions and fantastical names given to characters and places in fiction also allow children to understand the symbolic meaning of words.
“The Dr Seuss books, meanwhile, are said to provide a "perfect training in verbal competence" through their tongue-twisting rhymes and made-up animals.
“Younger readers learn to put words and concepts together because each imaginary creature is accompanied in the books by a picture.”
Happy reading!
