Soon after the birth of your first child, well-meaning friends and family offer a laundry list of do’s and don’ts that involve everything from feeding and sleeping down to doing the laundry itself. But mixed among the chores and warnings, there’s sweet advice for creating joy and peaceful moments: Read to your child.

As simple as it sounds, the benefits and great rewards of reading from birth and through every stage of a child’s development can last a lifetime. Most parents, when they think back on their own childhood, can still rattle off the titles of books that meant something special to them decades ago.

Books matter, more than just for happy memories. Children whose parents them five books a day start kindergarten having heard a million more words than those whose parents didn’t read to them. And if five books sounds a little ambitious, consider this: Reading just one picture book a day can expose your child to about 78,000 words a year. And studies show that the number of words a child hears profoundly impacts language development and literacy.

A love of reading opens kids up to new ideas, sets them up for academic success and fosters critical thinking and empathy for others. So, how do you bring up a kid who associates books with fun and adventure? Visit DWF Child's page to read an age-by-age guide to raising a reader, from babies and toddlers, up to age 12.