In military families where a parent is deployed, one of the most difficult things to maintain is daily routine. We applaud the families who fight to keep literacy a part of each day, despite the challenges. With one parent away, and the caregiver at home on his or her own, daily reading and storytime before bed may not happen regularly — and at United Through Reading we know how important that reading routine is. Our stories read aloud and recorded on video offer shared reading time for a military family and encourage the family to keep a daily storytime routine.
We want our military families to practice positive parenting so we encourage them to:
Read – Research published in a 2016 study by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine suggests that shared reading time is associated with positive outcomes for children and it also helps structure a child’s environment, creating order and stability.
Repeat – Observational research from the same study suggests that children’s development is enhanced by parents’ use of predictable routines. The study also discussed the positive relationships found between family routines and children’s executive functioning skills during the preschool years.
At United Through Reading, we aren’t the only ones who have seen first-hand how important a reading routine is. Military spouse Melissa Rognlie knows this too, “We have found that having a regular, consistent bedtime routine helps not only Madyson, but us as parents too because we all know what to expect each evening once we say, ‘Okay, it’s 7 pm and it’s time to get ready for bed.'”
UTR was critical for the Rognlie family as they maintained daily expectations and learned bedtime routines for their daughter Madyson.
