It takes 1000 hours of “lap-time” for young children to have the readiness skills in place to learn to read.
–National Institute for Children’s Health and Development
“Lap-time” means one-on-one interaction between a parent or caregiver and a child where meaningful language interactions take place. Types of lap-time activities include: talking, singing, rhyming, chanting, and, of course, reading.
If we begin at birth, children who receive one-half hour a day of lap-time will have the developmental skills they need to read when they come to kindergarten.
If we wait until they are two to three years old, it will take an hour a day of lap-time to prepare children with the readiness skills they need to read.
If we wait until they are four years old, it will take two hours a day of lap-time to prepare children with the readiness skills they need to read.
If we wait until children are five years old and entering kindergarten, it will take three hours a day of lap-time to catch these children up with their peers in order to be ready to read.
