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Reading to children from a very early age is scientifically proven to help a baby's language development. It also is a wonderful bonding experience that will provide great comfort and joy to a baby, and this positive association with books will serve to encourage a love of books later in life.
Therefore one loving grandma, or Mema, decided that reading to her grandson would be a great way to share some quality time together -- the only hiccup being that the two lived in different states.
This geographical barrier did not stop the loving grandmother Christine Durfee Ph.D. from achieving her mission. She decided to start a YouTube channel called Stories With Mema in which she reads stories to her grandson Donovan.
Durfee's daughter shared on Instagram a video of her baby boy busily listening to his loving grandma, and it's a wonderful idea for other grandparents to try if they want to create a way to read to their young grandchildren on a regular basis.
The added benefits
The idea was met with some very positive responses, with many people pointing out that as the videos are on YouTube, the baby will be able to watch them over and over throughout his lifetime, and will always see his grandma's loving face as she reads aloud to him.
As others shared, by embracing technology, Durfee has found a really great way of showing her grandchild the lengths she would go to in order to be a constant in his life.
If you're a grandparent trying to bond with a grandchild out of state or abroad, you could try setting up your own YouTube channel, or you could make short videos and send them on messaging services such as WhatsApp.
