Read to your children every day!

Recent research finds that you should read to your children every day, beginning in infancy. That's the word from the American Academy of Pediatrics, which maintains that daily time spent with Curious George, the Berenstain Bears or Dr. Seuss is the best way to prepare kids for school and for life. Using a medical metaphor, AAP spokeswoman Dr. Pamela High said daily reading will help parents "immunize their children against illiteracy." And it doesn't stop with parents. In an even bolder step, the association recommended that literacy promotion be part of residency training for any medical student entering pediatrics. "This is the first time the AAP has called out literacy promotion as being an essential component of primary care pediatric practice," High said. "Fewer than half of children are being read to every day by their families, and that number hasn't really changed since 2003. It's a public health message to parents of all income groups that this early shared reading is both fun and rewarding."