From reading aloud to your infant to encouraging your high-schoolers to read the classics, there's much you can do to get your children reading.
Parents can do so much for their kids, simply by encouraging them to read. Starting with reading aloud to your infant, you can start setting good reading habits for your family, and get your children reading for life.
By encouraging your kids to be voracious readers, you’ll be doing your part to see them succeed in school and a host of other facets of life.
Why You Should Read Aloud to Your Babies
Reading aloud to your young children:
- Allows them to develop better communication and thinking skills at a younger age
- Provides time for bonding and quality time together
- Allows children to develop a longer attention span and listening skills
- Provides for more “teaching moments.”
Why You Should Encourage Your Children to Read on Their Own
According to studies, including two from the Family Involvement Partnership for Learning and Adventures in Education, kids who read regularly:
- Become better readers, then become better at comprehension, then better at schoolwork in general, and get better grades
- Become better writers
- Have a more developed vocabulary
- Are better spellers and use better grammar
- Know where to turn to learn and satisfy their curiosity about almost everything
Some Ways to Encourage Children to Read
- Set an example - If you want your children to read more, start reading more yourself. Let them see you curl up with a good book as an alternative to TV in the evenings. When you finish a good book, tell them about it. Let them see your enthusiasm and they’ll catch their own.
- Designate a reading hour - You have set times for homework, skills practice, baths and dinner; why not books? Set aside a reading hour, when the whole family settles down with their books. Let the kids use that hour for school required reading if they want, or reading for pleasure.
- Family reading night – Pick one night of the week that the whole family reads something together. Even older children enjoy listening to a story being read to them. Let everyone take a turn reading aloud.
- Buy books – Take a trip to the bookstore once a month and allow each child to choose an inexpensive book from the sale rack. You’ll be building your home library and encouraging reading at the same time. Let your kids order books from school book orders and book fairs. Set a limit on quantity and cost, but let them know they can always choose a book.
- Visit the library – Take the whole family to your community library on a regular basis. Public libraries are a tremendous resource for families. Let your children get their own library cards and take advantage of story hours and other offerings.
- Give books as gifts - Make birthdays, Christmas and other gift-giving holidays another reason to buy your children books.
- Use motivators - Think of ways to motivate your children to read more or better books. Draw up a chart and have your children list the books they’ve completed. Reward your teenager for reading the classics or more difficult literature. Or make a book chain: Cut colorful strips of paper and have your children write the title of the book they’ve read, make a loop and add it to the chain. See who can get their book chain to reach from the curtain rod to the floor!
- Join a book club – Sign your kids up for a book club or start one yourself. Libraries, book stores and schools often have book clubs, and there are mother-daughter book clubs, father-son book clubs, and reading groups for specific age groups in many communities.
The copyright of the article Get Your Children Reading in Stay-at-Home Parents is owned by Diane Laney Fitzpatrick. Permission to republish Get Your Children Reading in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
 |
