It was a happy old year for me, especially in the lead-up to Christmas when I spent some time with a 90-year-old aunt.

She reminded me of how lucky I was to have had a father who spent so much time with me in my young years.

It was an epiphany.

A few years ago I spent some time with a local high school attempting to come up with a strategy to halt faltering literacy skills.

It has nagged me that I never quite nailed the solution, although my preliminary recommendations were implemented and results are improving.

But there is a long-term solution that starts well before Year 7 and I’ve been carrying it around with me all my life.

Conversations with my aunt revealed it.

A recent Murdoch Children’s Research Institute study in Melbourne has found that dads reading to their toddlers results in children with better language and literacy skills.

Darrell Croker is senior coach at Write For Impact.