When you're a small child, there are few things more engaging and engrossing than being read a bedtime story. It might sound frivolous to place so much importance on See Spot Run and The Cat in the Hat. But reading to children from a young age has an incredibly important effect on their cognitive development and literacy.
Unfortunately, not all kids are lucky enough to have bedtime stories read to them. In fact, there are plenty of kids out there who, because of reasons outside their control, can't hear stories before they sleep.
However, two amazing little girls have stepped up to the plate and resolved to deal with this issue of their own initiative. Zaria Hathorn and Hailey Willard, aged 13 and eight respectively, are two sisters who hail from Delaware. As part of their altruistic mission, they have pledged to read bedtime stories five nights a week on Facebook Live to those kids out there who aren't able to experience them.
On their official Facebook page, the two girls wrote:
"My sister and I love to read. Our mom has been reading to us since birth and that, in my opinion, has helped me develop a love for reading. My sister and I were lying in bed one night giggling about something when this idea came about.
We presented the idea to my mom and she agreed it would be great. She personally doesn’t want us to be on social media but we all agreed being on it in a positive way would help light the world."
"Our main purpose is to read a book of our choice each night at a designated time so that children can have a bedtime story each night. We are already reading each night but we thought it may be beneficial for children who don’t get this luxury. Parents sometimes work late or are too tired for stories. We are not only helping children, we are giving parents a nice break after a long day of work."
Zaria and Hailey read live on Facebook every day, from Monday to Friday, at 8:30 pm EST. So why not check out their channel and get your little one to watch some of their videos if you can't manage yourself?