How to Help Your Child Love Reading

Reading is one of the most important gifts we can give to our children. We put many hours of thought into choosing the correct phonics program and then spend many more hours imparting that knowledge to our little ones. When they are little we sit them on our laps and read to them while they bring us the same wonderful books again and again.

Then it happens. They decipher the code. A light bulb comes on and they are now reading words on their own. Your job is finished, right? While it is a huge milestone and should be celebrated, it is also the beginning of the adventure and not the end. Assuming you have constructed a solid foundation by teaching a quality phonics program, now you get to begin work forming the structure. Good books will form impressions for children that they will carry into adulthood. You are the guide as they begin to interact with the many worlds that books open.

Some children are drawn naturally to books. They will read in anything. Other children will need to be enticed. Your influence as the parent is very important. Just as your child will usually prefer junk food if left to themselves, many children do the same thing with books. They gravitate toward easy to devour books that are of little value. Balance is important here. Sometimes we think we have to let them read only what they want to read or we will make it a chore. I have found the opposite to be true. Sometimes the very book they didn’t want to read turns out to be a favorite.

There are many techniques you can employ to get your child reading and loving it. Let’s look at a few suggestions you can try with your own family.

1. Turn off the T.V. and video games. Set aside some time every day for reading. If the T.V. and other media are always an option, it will be harder to get most children to pick up a book. Television and video games provide instant gratification. But, good books are not fast food to be consumed instantly. Good books are savored and experienced, however most children need to be guided in this direction.

2. Offer good choices. It is common for kids to pick one genre or one particular author that they like and read all the books in that series. It is our job to introduce them to well written stories that will enrich their lives. Gladys Hunt writes in her wonderful book Honey for a Child’s Heart, “A good book is not problem-centered; it is people-centered. It reveals how to be a human being and what the possibilities of life are; it offers hope.” Her book helps us to sift through all that is available and pick out the gems.

3. Become familiar with your local library. Make a list before you get to library, pick out several books from that list and then let them choose which one they would like to read first. A public library is a big place full of many options. We only have a few years to influence them with good reading material, so why waste their time on junk. If they want to make additional book choices while they are at the library that’s O.K., too. A little junk food won’t kill you, but a steady diet of it is not too healthy. Our library has an online catalog so I can peruse books before I get to the library and see which ones are available that I am interested in.

4. Build a home library. “To add a library to a house is to give that house a soul.”(Cicero) Start when your child is small requesting books instead of toys for gifts. Keep a list of special books that you would like to own. Purchasing used books in good condition will help to keep the expense down. We have continually added to our library and it is so nice to have a book available when they ask for something to read.

5. Read aloud to your children. If you want to give your child a love of great literature, keep reading aloud to him even after he knows how to read. It is a magical thing to share a good book with your child. Somehow when a story is read aloud the characters come to life and everyone feels like they have just made some new friends. It is better than a movie because you really get to know the characters and have time to digest the plot. This is something the whole family can enjoy together. Happy Reading!