"Love You Forever" Reading a Book Before Birth

In order to support the "Our Town Rocks and Reads" Health and Literacy improvement project in their mutually shared mission of creating a culture of reading and literacy within Dundee, the library will be hosting a "Mom's Club." The club will be open to expectant mothers in their last trimester of pregnancy. Participants will be given a copy of "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch. Moms will be encouraged to read the book to their fetus. The idea is to create a reading habit in young mothers before the child is even born. First-time moms and moms unaware of the benefits of reading to their child will: engage in a bonding experience with baby, be able to gain practice at reading before the child arrives, become more comfortable with the concept of reading aloud and create a potential means of soothing a fussy baby by reading aloud a familiar book once the baby is born, and be exposed to a story that describes the power of unconditional, familial love and attachment.

There is research to support reading to fetuses in the final three months of pregnancy. The fetus does hear the mother's voice and does become familiar with the mother's individual cadence. A story being read daily will become a source of comfort to the fetus once it has been born into the chaos of the outside world. In addition, developing a daily reading habit before the baby is born has the potential to increase the odds that a parent will read books aloud to the child during the highly formative and integral first five years of life. Plus, reading as a means of achieving calm in a child is an excellent parenting skill.

In Dundee, the Youth Center, library and Dundee Rocks and Reads program are working diligently toward creating increased prosperity and opportunity for all members of the community. We believe that a culture that consistently values and models reading will be the key to improving the quality of life for everyone- even those that haven't yet taken their first breath of air. Please help us to transform this rural community.