COMFORT AND JOY

By HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON

The night after the Inaugural, Bill and I gathered with our family in the solarium on the third floor of the White House. After dinner our toddler nephews Tyler and Zachary climbed up on the couch with their Uncle Bill to hear him read a story. They accompanied him with words, sounds, pointed fingers and a few tussles over who would hold the book. As I watched them, I thought of all the times Bill and I used to take turns reading stories to Chelsea. Every night one of us (and occasionally both) would stretch out on her bed, hold her in our arms, and either read or make up new tales about imaginary characters who embarked on improbable but breathtaking adventures.

Bill and I did not know about brain cells or synapses or the newest discoveries in neuroscience. Reading to Chelsea became a daily ritual because it's what our own parents and grandparents had done with us, and because we wanted to spend quiet time with her every day. Bill's grandmother thought that reading to him would help him develop a strong vocabulary and the language skills he would need later on in school. My mother and father placed a similar premium on reading, and to this day I remember the feelings of security and comfort that I felt sitting in my grandfather's lap when he read stories to my brothers and me.

Today, thanks to advances in brain research, we know that reading with a child has intellectual, emotional and physical benefits that can enhance the child's development. The intimacy of sharing books and stories strengthens the emotional bonds between a parent and child, helps a child learn words and concepts, and actually stimulates the growth of a baby's brain.

As I discussed in my book, It Takes a Village, scientists have discovered that children whose parents read and talk to them during the first three years of life create a stronger foundation for future reading success. In other words, what our parents and grandparents knew instinctively is now backed up by hard scientific evidence.

That's why doctors and nurses are starting to prescribe reading to babies along with regular checkups and vaccinations. Recently I went to Georgetown University's Medical Center with Maurice Sendak, the renowned children's author and illustrator. His book Where the Wild Things Are was one of Chelsea's--and Bill's--favorites. Mr. Sendak read the story to children, and I announced, along with representatives of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Booksellers Association and the American Library Association, a national campaign to put books in the hands of parents who bring their young children to the doctor, and to get doctors to prescribe daily reading. My husband and I will be discussing this and other activities to follow up on the latest findings about the brain at a White House conference in the spring.

It's important that we take to heart what the neuroscientists are telling us--without losing the heart of the reading experience. In today's high-tech world of E-mail and microchips, it is easy to forget the importance of human connections in our daily activities. Technology has brought many welcome conveniences to our lives. But it has the potential to create feelings of distance, detachment and isolation among us.

Reading to a child while touching, hugging and holding him or her can be a wonderful antidote to the impersonal tendencies of the information age--for both the adult and the child. While critical to building brains, reading is equally important to building trusting and close relationships. That's why many of us remember the warm embrace or the comfortable lap that cradled us when we read books as children. And that's why reading should not be viewed solely as an intellectual proposition, particularly in the era in which we now live.

If Americans take away only one lesson from these exciting scientific discoveries, I hope it's that reading to children is easy, affordable and feasible for parents no matter what their level of education or economic station in life. Children's books are available for free at public libraries in every community and can be found at reasonable prices in many bookstores. Doctors, librarians, teachers, book publishers, business leaders and the news media can help make books available to families and educate parents about the vital role that reading plays in our children's lives.

It isn't very often that we have before us such a simple, inexpensive and pleasurable way to improve our children's health and development and raise their prospects for a brighter future. Whether you lie down together on the rug, sit together in an old rocking chair or cuddle on your child's bed the way Bill and I used to with Chelsea, there is no better way to spend time than reading to your child.

And now we also know that there are few better ways to help your baby's brain grow.