While majority of the parents would prefer their children reading books to improve and hone their knowledge, studies show that making children listen to books would do them more benefit in terms of imagination and creativity.

Psychologists say, when children listen to books, they make up visuals in heads. This triggers their imagination and stimulates creativity. The parents must encourage their children to listen to audiobooks, podcasts and music. It may be difficult and challenging to weed through hundreds of selections and jump from platform to platform, but it’s worth for the mental and psychological development of children.

The concept is more accepted and practised in the US, where parents themselves are avid podcast listeners or audio book fans. Spotify recently launched a new ad-free app, Spotify kids. It is packed with singalongs, soundtracks and stories for children as young as 3 years of age.

Amazon owned audible.com, a leader in audiobooks, is also reaping benefits from increased interest in kids’ content. In 2019, the company said, Audible listeners downloaded 40% more such content than in 20189.