One simple way to change a child's life without breaking a sweat.

I'm 67 ... though of course I don't look it. (None of us do.) I have eight grandchildren and, especially around the holidays, put a lot of thought into what I can do—that doesn't cost a fortune—to really make their lives better.

Turns out the answer is simple and many of us are already doing it: reading to children aloud. We just didn't know how really important it was. Don't know where to start? Sendak's classic (above) is perfect.

 More than just warm and fuzzy.

Though it's fun to cozy up with a child to read, and feels frivolous, that's just the first significant benefit. 

Here's another: Children who have been read to, arrive at kindergarten with a 30% larger vocabulary. So they both understand more of what the teacher tells them and can express more. 

It means they start school at the top of their class instead of at the bottom feeling confused, frustrated and struggling to keep up.

And there's more.

That old devil ... digital!

I worry that my grandchildren spend too much time playing video games. No, I don't think it's bad out of hand. My second-to-youngest, Zane, actually taught himself to read playing video games .. and to spell by trying to wrangle passwords out of his adults so he could order more!

I worry because so much of it is only reactive. For the most part players don't have to think, plan, or wonder.

One of my great prides is that my first middle-grade novel, Cheechako, an Alaska adventure, had 8th grade reluctant readers sneaking to read ahead and find out what happens.  

And it's not enough to just give a child a book. Imagine one of your grandkids with a book in one hand and a game controller in the other. How long does that choice take? 

Start reading aloud at birth.

Apparently, it's never too soon to start reading aloud to children. Or too late. Don't assume that because they're starting to learn to read, that your work here is finished. The difference between a child's reading level and listening level doesn't equalize until about grade 8. All that time, they still need to hear material that is more complicated than what they can read to themselves. 

Captive reading. 

My mother read to my brothers and I while we did the dishes, admittedly to keep us from killing each other. My brilliant daughter-in-law Rachel, reads to Mia and Addy in the car for similar reasons. The miles go by without shouts and bleats of anger or pain, and after a road stop, the girls are more than ready to find out what happens next. 

To learn more about the benefits of reading aloud, check out the Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/

And most of all, celebrate the upcoming holidays by buying or checking out books for kids, and by making time to sit down with them to read.

Reading, especially reading together, is the gift that keeps on giving ... for life.