Petit Tales Blog
Research-backed insights on child development, the science of reading, and how personalized storytelling can shape your child's future.
Your Child's Brain Works Harder When You Tell Stories Without Pictures
Last night at bedtime, my daughter asked me to "tell the story with no book." She wanted me to describe the dragon and the castle using only my voice. I watc...
The Hidden Reason Your Bedtime Routine Shapes Your Child's Social Skills
Your three-year-old refuses to share her crayons at preschool. Again. The teacher mentions it at pickup, and you wonder what you're doing wrong. Meanwhile, e...
The 12-Hour Reading Rule: How Early Reading Shapes Your Child's Brain for Life
Your seven-year-old asks for "just one more chapter" at bedtime. You glance at the clock—it's already 8:15 PM. Do you close the book or keep reading?
The Bedtime Routine That Adds 40 Minutes of Sleep and Boosts Your Child's Vocabulary
It's 7:15 PM. Your three-year-old is running laps around the coffee table while you mentally calculate how many minutes stand between you and silence. You co...
The Science Behind Screen Time and Your Child's Brain: What fMRI Research Reveals About Reading Together
Last Tuesday at 7:43 PM, a mother in Ohio watched her four-year-old swipe through a tablet app while she finished loading the dishwasher. The app promised "e...
What Happens in Your Child's Brain When You Read Together: New fMRI Research Reveals the Answer
Your three-year-old wiggles in your lap, pointing at the dog on page four for the sixth time. You're tired. The dishes are piling up. And somewhere in the ba...
The Sleep-Literacy Connection: How Bedtime Reading Builds Better Brains and Better Sleepers
Your four-year-old is fighting sleep again. She's asked for water three times, rearranged her stuffed animals twice, and discovered an urgent need to tell yo...
What Happens Inside Your Child's Brain When You Read Together
A four-year-old named Maya sits in her father's lap, eyes wide as he reads about a rabbit who plants a garden. She doesn't know it, but specific regions of h...
How Reading Builds Your Child's Brain While Screens Break Connections
Your child finishes dinner and asks for the iPad. You hesitate. In the back of your mind, you know screens aren't ideal—but the dishes are piling up, and thi...
When Broad Interventions Fall Short: What a 249-Child Study Reveals About Helping Autistic Kids
A 249-child randomized trial reveals that broad social interventions often fail—but specific, personalized stories help autistic children achieve targeted goals.
The 1.4 Million Word Gap: What Happens When Children Miss Out on Bedtime Stories
By the time two children walk into their first kindergarten classroom, one may have heard 1.4 million more words than the other. Not because their parents lo...
The Million Word Gap: How Reading Aloud Shapes Your Child's Brain Before Kindergarten
Your toddler squirms in your lap, grabbing at the pages before you can finish the sentence. You're exhausted. The dishes are piling up. And somewhere in the ...
The Million Word Gap: How Reading Five Books a Day Gives Your Child a 1.4 Million Word Advantage
Your four-year-old points at a penguin on the page and asks, "What's Antarctica?" You explain it's a frozen continent at the bottom of the world. She nods, f...