Ever since I was a kid my parents told me that reading is essential. Reading stimulates the brain and with reading something in your comfort zone can reduce stress. To me reading skills can be through browsing, skim through, and in depth reading.
There are so many things that we read daily for leisure and comfort like Text messages, Emails, Billboards, Ingredients and calories on food intake, Directions to get a destination from point a to point z, Articles on newspapers, Browsing the internet, Books/E-Books.
If you are reading this post right now I hope that my opinion does encourage those to make time to read.
In-depth reading is the most precious/valuable type that benefits us in a lifetime. It is much more difficult to be done than others because it takes a lot of time and needs readers to calm down and think deep as well. I believe this is a rare ability to acquire for most people nowadays.
I don’t read novels or anything like that, I see them as pointless & a waste of time. I like to educate myself on real life things, I read & study finance, cryptocurrency, I surround myself with educated people whom I can cherry pick information from. What I will say is one of the best & most informative pieces of reading material I’ve ever had the pleasure to read is The Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean Ammous. It will open your eyes & probably confirm to you why you are here on this forum.
Readings on finance and cryptocurrency are rewarding because you can easily measure their "output" so that you like them. In contrast, novels reading is not for acquiring specific skills or money-making but purely for a better understanding of human nature and society. Being educated by our physical surroundings is not enough and a spiritual education or reflection from other people's experiences is essential for personal growth. You may get shocked to look back on what you believed ten years from now and never realize how the change happened. Things like novel-reading might be one of the factors.
Reading is priceless, not only for gaining knowledge on specific topics but also when it comes to general knowledge, one's vocabulary, a better understanding of human nature...the list is miles long. And I do agree, the parents should encourage their children to read and pay close attention to what they're reading, as some books can do damage when read before the abilities to understand them have developed.
Exactly. reading has a very large scope of tangible and intangible gains. To better understand human nature is the core value. You are welcome to share great books you or your children have recently read. Cheers.