Playful reading with my infant: A thematic analysis of parents’ experiences of an interactive shared reading intervention

The recommendation to introduce shared book reading during the child’s first year of life is widely acknowledged. While prior research has focused on the benefits for children, recent studies instead examine the impact on the reader. Studies have found a positive effect on parenting skills and parental well-being. Further, parents express that the joint activity fosters physical and emotional closeness as well as parent sensitivity. The present study explores parents’ experiences of interactive shared reading with their infants, aged 8–18 months. Through an intervention, parents learned and implemented reading techniques such as gestures, onomatopoeia, and vocalizations and encouraged infant participation. Interviews were conducted with 11 parents, and data were analyzed using Thematic Analysis. Two overarching themes emerged, each with two subthemes. The first theme “Playful Reading” includes (1) the parent’s pleasure of reading in the interactive approach and (2) sharing a moment of emotional closeness with my infant. The second theme, “Discovering and learning about my baby’s way to communicate,” explores (1) observing and ascribing significance to the infant’s communication and (2) feelings of wonder attributed to the infant’s capabilities. Sharing books is a mutually enjoyable activity for both parents and infants. Parents appreciated the playful approach during the reading activity and the emotional bond that developed. Additionally, using the interactive shared reading techniques helped parents recognize and value their infant’s communicative abilities. Future studies examining how interactive shared reading affects the reading activity as well as the parent are discussed.