I get asked a lot how to get kids to read. Friends with kids, blog readers, students’ parents, random people on social media–everyone wants to know how to help their kids fall in love with reading.
The answer to that is really simple and really difficult.
The short answer is give them books to read. Give them good, engaging, relevant books to read.
The long answer is filled with schools that hurt more than help when it comes to fostering a love of reading. The long answer is learning struggles and challenges that make giving up easier than powering through. The long answer starts when kids are acquiring language as babies and their home environment.
Sorry, did that just get really overwhelming all of a sudden?
That’s the problem. Reading shouldn’t be. Reading should be fun. So start there. Make it fun. Make it easy. Start with books that mirror what your kids like to watch on TV. Make the books short and make them relevant.
Have your kid start small with a fifteen minute reading session on the couch with whatever they want to read. Then move on for the day. Do it again the next day and the next day and the next day. After a while, bump the time up to twenty minutes. Just like anything else, reading for longer periods of time takes stamina.
The great thing about fostering a love of reading in a child is that it’s so much more than just giving them a good book to read.
What are you, the adult, reading? Do your kids see you reading? Do they see you engage in a novel, laughing out loud when something tickles you or shedding a tear when things get too sad? Do you talk about what you’re reading and what you’re excited to read next?
I can’t make my kids understand the importance of good nutrition and eating their fruits and veggies if they never see me eating my fruits and veggies. It’s the same way with reading. They’re watching you more than listening to you so show them how to be a reader.
If you’re rolling your eyes right now and saying reading just isn’t your thing, you’re part of the problem. Reading is everyone’s thing. Reading makes us better citizens. Reading makes us better at critical thinking. Reading makes us more empathetic. Reading grows our world, our awareness, and our compassion.
I mean, you don’t have to read heady, stuffy non-fiction that puts you to sleep. What do you like to watch on TV? The same rules apply to you. If you like action-packed thrillers, find that genre at your local bookstore. If you’re obsessed with home remodeling shows, head to the do-it-yourself section. If fantasy and fairy tales interest you, there are so many great books to read. Like a steamy romance movie or something that makes you afraid to close your eyes? They make those in book form too!
If all the options seem like too much and you can’t commit, head to the library. There are passionate book lovers swarming that place. Some of them work there and some of them are just creepers who like to touch all the books and offer unsolicited advice on what you should be reading based on what shoes you’re wearing. Not that I’ve ever done that, but I’m just thinking out loud here.
With Christmas less than a week away, I’m pushing hard for books as gifts this year. I want us to hit January snuggled up on our couches with our kids and a stack of books and no where to go. I want every kid to open a book on Christmas morning and every adult to download one to their e-reader. (Okay, actually, I want adults to have legit books in their hands too, but I’m trying to be hip and cool with all the technology people are using these days. I just love the feel of a book in my hands, and I want to collect a million of them on my shelves and you just can’t do that with an electronic copy. But whatever, just read a book please. I don’t *really* care about the form.)
Oh, one last thing. One really good way to get kids to read is to tell them some books they’re not allowed to read. Kids are kids and very predictable. I used to introduce books to my classes this way. I’d tell them that some of them aren’t mature enough to read this and some of their parents might not want them to read it, but I was going to let them if they kept it quiet. This was partly true because I liked to push boundaries of what kids are allowed to read (down with banned books!) and partly this was just me being sneaky and hooking them. Use this trick to your advantage. “Accidentally” buy a few books and then “realize” they’re scary/too violent/too adult/whatever and see if they don’t magically disappear when you’re not looking.
Reading is that important. Lie your way to success. #1 parenting tip from Mary Graham. You’re welcome.
Wonderful post! Let’s hear it for reading and writing! I especially like the recognition of how reading helps one develop empathy. When I taught reading, the hook for me was showing students how we learn about ourselves from what we read. Everyone (well, almost everyone) likes to learn more about him or herself. Of course, we learn about others and the world, too. There was nothing better in teaching than putting a brand new book in a student’s hands and then reading together and discussing what we read. The art of teaching reading was in large part choosing just the right book that was, as you say, Mary, relevant.
So true, Marjorie. Thanks!
Love this! My boys have gotten grumpy about reading because of being forced to for school and it frustrates me. (It is the questions they have to answer and turn in that really turn them off) At least now they get to pick what book they are reading so that helps a bit. I might use one or two of your tricks over Christmas break. 😉
School kills so much of our love of learning so anything you can do to combat that will benefit them so much!
My son, who is now 23, was an avid reader until he was maybe in 9th grade. Then it was like pulling teeth to get him to read–even the things he had to read for class. So, I told myself that this wasn’t a mountaintop battle for me–and I quit trying to force the issue. And you know what? For the last several years, he has been a reader again–even getting a double major in Philosophy and English lit in college. Keep books available, and they WILL come back to it.
I always maintain my love for reading is because I always saw my mom reading growing up. She always had a bookmark in a library book, always spending a few minutes each day visibly on the couch reading a book. She read to us every single night, even when we “outgrew” picture books (I teach preschool, I now know you never outgrow picture books!) , reading us chapters in the great chapter books she loved growing up. One of my favorite memories is reading “The Outsiders” outloud with her when I was in like the 5th grade. It seemed like a “grown-up” book at the time for me.
LOVED this post 🙂
Your mom sounds amazing! My dad read us his original Hardy Boys books when we were in elementary school and I was enthralled with those books! Such great reading memories to give kids. 🙂