This is NPR's Life Kit. I'm Diana Alpon.

As a radio producer and a host, I'm a big fan of good stories in any format,

and as a mom to three kids, I want to pass my love of storytelling onto them.

But it's not always easy to find time for reading and our busy family schedule.

And let's be honest, with all the tech at their fingertips and school days filled with

required reading, it's not always easy to keep their attention either, or to convince them

that reading isn't a chore. I recently learned that there is so much joy and value to be found

in reading aloud as a family for parents and kids alike. It does so much to help us with stress

management, hope, and resilience. It's the best bang for your book. Like I haven't seen anything

like that gives a higher return on investment than reading aloud. That's Keisha Cirobois.

She's an early childhood literacy consultant with a PhD in early childhood education and teaching

who goes by Dr. Keisha. She's based in Baltimore, but has researched education strategies and

student leadership development all over the world. For Keisha, the simple act of sharing your

love of reading with your child is so much bigger than just literacy. It's another expression

of love for your child and a tool for helping them navigate the world. That parent child bond is

there's nothing better in terms of sintering the child and sintering yourself as the adult

using that love relationship. Use reading aloud to build a bridge that would link our children from

the world we deal with today to a better tomorrow. It's a practice that creates space for deeper

independent learning and exploring. We can talk about novels, graphic novels, you know non-fiction,

historical fiction, historical facts, to really delve into deeper conversations that can help us

deal with the now of where we are. And a door to conversations with your children you may not have

expected. If we're talking about anxiety and worry, we have picture books that specifically deal

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