By 8 months, a baby's brain has 1,000 trillion nerve connections. By the age of ten, that number reduces to just 500 trillion, or even less, depending on the amount of stimulation provided.

While learning how to read is important for day-to-day survival, developing a passion to read opens many doors for children. Here are eight reasons why reading to your child is so critical:

By the age of four, your child would have spent about 17,500 waking hours at home. School-going children spend 3000  

The key attributes for highly successful individuals are job skills, analytical skills, social skills, personal attitudes and values. And most of these skills and values are not formally taught in schools.