My post on 11 Reasons Why Reading Is So Important for Your Child explains how essential reading is to your child’s success in school and in life.
When our kids were young, Rick and I set out with intentionality to raise children who love to read. Here are some strategies you can use that worked for us, as well as some recommended by education experts:
1. Read to your children every day.
- Start when they’re babies. Even if they don’t understand, the word patterns they hear help to develop their language acquisition skills.
- Keep reading to them even after they know how to read. When our son David was in fourth grade, I read J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit to him. It was beyond his reading level, but he loved listening to the adventure. Children can comprehend a higher reading level when they listen than what they can read on their own. This further helps to develop language skills.
- Establish a daily routine—like every day after dinner or at bedtime. My hubby or I read to our kids every night at bedtime as our kids snuggled up to us. This had the added advantage of making their bedtime routine easier to enforce. Our kids WANTED to put on their pjs and brush their teeth so we could read books together. If you make reading together a daily habit, you’ll find yourself falling into a consistent groove instead of struggling each day to fit it in and trying to convince yourself or your children to do it.
2. Model it for your kids.
- Let them see you reading. This takes discipline which, if you’re like me, means pulling your nose away from digital devices and picking up an actual book. Unless, of course, you have an app like Libby, Kindle Nook, Overdrive, Hoopla, etc. While I use all of these extensively, I think it’s good for kids to see us with print books, as well.
- Motivate yourself to read so you can model it for your children. I keep a record of every book I read each year. At the end of the year I publish a review of the books I’ve read on Facebook. This motivates me to keep reading—and to model it for my grandchildren—instead of whiling away my time on social media (which, sadly, I’m very good at). Find something that works for you.
- Show enthusiasm for reading. Engage your children in conversation about what they’re reading—what they like about it and what they want to read next. Talk about what you’re reading.
- Offer books or reading apps when you’re waiting. Stuck at the doctor’s office? Waiting in line at the grocery store? Instead of handing your child a video game or Netflix on your phone, download a children’s book from Overdrive or Libby for them to read. Or pack a small book in your purse or diaper bag. Similarly, instead of defaulting to videos for a trip in the car, try books. At least to start with. When our kids were growing up we never got in the car without each person bringing a book. (I still do this, but now they’re loaded on my iPhone.)
- Take the posture of a lifetime learner. As an educator, I believe a good teacher is a lifetime learner. I try to model that for my kids, grandchildren, and students. Not only are books entertaining, but we can learn and grow through reading, as well.
3. Associate reading with pleasant experiences.
This is a biggie.
Want your kids to love reading? Provide pleasant experiences surrounding their reading. Create a special reading area in your child’s room with books and pillows. Or go to the beach together and have each person bring a book to read between dips.
As mentioned above, when our children were little we included reading as part of their daily bedtime routine. Every night my hubby or I snuggled in bed with our kids as we read books to them. There were also random reading times throughout the day cuddled together on the couch. In addition to loving on our kids, we hoped to build pleasant memories their minds associated with reading. I think we succeeded.
4. Provide motivation for your kids to read.
We’d all like our children to be self-motivated to read, but some are reluctant and need a little nudging.
When my husband was growing up, his friend’s dad issued an ultimatum to his boys: “You can read or you can weed.” I don’t advocate that kind of pressure, which could result in the opposite result. There are better ways to motive reluctant readers.
When our kids were little, we took advantage of the Pizza Hut Book It! program, which rewarded children with individual pizzas for completing reading goals. Many public libraries offer reading programs with awards for children.
We also, at times, instituted our own family reading program. Each of us set our own reading goals (Mom and Dad included) and posted our progress on the family bulletin board. If I recall correctly, the prize for a person completing their goal was a meal of their own choosing served on a “You Are Special” plate.
5. Take advantage of your local library.
When our daughter was little, we moved from New Jersey to Ohio. The first thing we did when we got to our new home—aside from scraping off the ugly purple and red Muppet monster wallpaper from my daughter’s bedroom—was to get library cards at our town library.
Your local public library provides a wealth of books and reading enrichment activities for children. And it’s all free! We take advantage of our library’s preschool reading program for our grandchildren. Afterwards we peruse the children’s book section. There are plenty of easy readers for our Kindergartner and picture books for her and our toddler.
But that’s just the beginning. In addition to books, periodicals, and reading programs for little ones, there are many online perks such as downloadable books and databases so your older student can do research for school assignments.
6. Surround your children with print books at home.
When I was growing up there were print books EVERYWHERE in our home. Our living room featured bookshelves that filled two-thirds of one wall. All our bedrooms had built-in bookshelves. How I loved those books! I remember perusing the shelves and pulling out volumes that interested me—from children’s classics like Little House in the Big Woods to books featuring glossy photos of cultures around the world. Maybe that’s why I’m a renaissance woman!
My brother once took all of our Golden Books and lined them up in a standing position like dominoes. They started in his room, ran across the hall to curl around the girls’ room, and then extended down the stairs into the living room. Not a very educational use of books, I admit, but it illustrates just. how. many. books. we. had. Not to mention—what a mighty spectacle it was when the “dominoes” were set off!
Okay. Maybe that was TOO many books. But, in this age of minimalism, I encourage you to make books the exception to the rule. Having books around provides children with an enriched environment that encourages them to explore and learn.
Books on the Cheap
No money for new books? No problem. You can purchase used books on Amazon and other discount sites, from used bookstores, garage sales, and, our favorite when the kids were little—library sales.
Our kids have fond memories of the latter. Every year our library would put on a big used book sale. We would go as a family, each grabbing our own cardboard box as we entered and loading up. When we got home we would excitedly show each other our “haul.”
IT’S SO WORTH IT!
In this age where non-educational digital media takes up most of our attention, we as parents need to be intentional about raising enthusiastic readers. Because leaders are readers. And leaders are world-changers!
Related Post: 11 Reasons Why Reading Is So Important for Your Child
