Raising readers | Imamother

amother

OP ↓

Yesterday at 3:00 pm

I'd like to think of myself as well educated but it always kind of stung that my kids never gravitated towards reading. I often see children lost in books or people saying that they could never part with their books and quite frankly, I don't get it. I know how important literacy is for children and I guess I have been a bad example but I never found myself lost in a book.

How do you get your kids to start reading or love reading?

giftedmom

Yesterday at 3:01 pm

I think it’s very much genetics. I see it with myself and my own kids. Ofcourse it helps if it’s part of the family culture.

hodeez

Yesterday at 3:04 pm

We read books together all the time. There are so many different types of books that you're assured to find one your kid will enjoy. All my kids are bh book worms from a very young age. It helps to read it to them in a silly voice. Also to ask questions along the way like "is that a silly thing to do " or " do dinosaurs use trampolines?"

Chayalle

Yesterday at 3:05 pm

I'm one of seven sisters BAH....my mother AH majored in English and was a huge reader. We had tons of books, lots of offerings, etc....and some of us were readers, and some of us weren't.

amother

Azalea ↓

Yesterday at 3:06 pm

Not sure you can MAKE a kid enjoy reading, either they do or they don't.

But, saying that, I'm a reading teacher for boys grades 3 thru 7 for those who have difficulty reading. When the parents ask me how they can encourage their boys to read more, I have 2 answers

1) Some kids just take longer. But it comes naturally once they understand better what they're reading. Once they understand what they're reading, they enjoy it more, so read more, so get better at it. Often it just 'clicks' altho it can take until they're 9 or 10.

2) I don't love Comic books, there are more educational books available, BUT for those who need encouragement to read, it's a good place to start.

honeymoon ↓

Yesterday at 3:07 pm

To raise readers, be a reader. Kids who see parents read, as opposed to watching tv or scrolling phones, will often naturally gravitate to reading.

Also, make sure it's easy for them to read. Do they read fluently with no issues? If not, you need to address those areas where it's hard for them.

Leave age appropriate books and magazines lying around the house. Read together with them.

My kids inhale books. I never taught them to love reading. They just do, perhaps because both my husband and I love to read?

singleagain

Yesterday at 3:07 pm

Part of it is making reading interesting. And finding their niche .... Harry Potter might be one of the biggest selling children's books of all time, but if somebody is not interested in fantasy, they are not going to want to read that.

amother

Chicory

Yesterday at 3:07 pm

I never loved books, I couldnt get lost in it but would read if I was really bored.
DD is 7 and loves to read BH.
we have loads of books that are age appropriate and some were slightly above her reading age but dh enjoyed reading it to the kids. New books was something we always got the kids for special occasions, usually yom tov we get a new one and one night of Chanuka is new books as gift etc (we buy them on sale and keep it as gifts) She is so happy to read when ever I remind her and loves to read to her younger siblings. It really shocks me especially since she has adhd.
ETA majority of my siblings love reading, I could never understand them fighting over the books. There were def some books I enjoyed more than others and would reread them a few times if I enjoyed it.

amother

Pearl

Yesterday at 3:08 pm

Most of it is probably genetics + being raised by a mother who reads a lot.

BUT one of my kids did not enjoy reading at all.

Until their 3rd grade teacher read a few pages every day from a book. And then they were desperate to find out what comes next. So they picked up the book and the rest is history.

amother

Cyan

Yesterday at 3:10 pm

Me and dh are huge readers, plus I'm an English teacher, so there's plenty of good examples to be had, but only half our kids are readers like us. The ones that aren't as into it still read plenty on shabbos and are very creative and have plenty of healthy outlets, but just aren't that into reading. There's definitely a nature component to it, not everyone is going to be a bookworm regardless of what you do. I will say, encourage it in whatever form it happens. Don't dismiss graphic novels or audiobooks, those have literary value too.

amother

↑ Azalea

Yesterday at 3:10 pm

hodeez wrote:

This is great advice. When I'm working with kids who struggle with reading, finding a book that you can ask questions on is very effective. Short stories with great pictures to disscuss is paramount. It makes them curious, so they want to read further to find the 'answers'.

I can recommend some books if you'd like. (And no, I don't sell books, or have anything to gain by recommending, other then helping a fellow sister!)

amother

↑ OP ↓

Yesterday at 3:18 pm

amother Azalea wrote:

I'd love some recommendations for them and me. They are ages 8-13. Secular books are OK for us.

amother

↑ OP

Yesterday at 3:24 pm

honeymoon wrote:

Yes, they see for my downtime that I scroll WAY too much. On shabbos they will pick up the circle etc but that is about it. I find they feel overwhelmed at the library.

amother

Pink

Yesterday at 4:57 pm

Read to them

I read to my kids every night before bed. Oldest is 14.

Have books in the house

Talk to them about what they read

You read. Model reading.

amother

Slategray ↓

Yesterday at 4:58 pm

We own a lot of books, we read to them often, we encourage reading and we have books all around. My kids are major bookworms. You can start with getting them audiobooks of engaging books or reading from chapter books every night.

amother

↑ Slategray

Yesterday at 4:59 pm

amother OP wrote:

Yes, they see for my downtime that I scroll WAY too much. On shabbos they will pick up the circle etc but that is about it. I find they feel overwhelmed at the library.

The library is overwhelming you need to pick out a few and ask them if they look interesting or bring them home and let them try. Kids can’t browse libraries easily.

oohlala

Yesterday at 5:02 pm

Lots of good advice here. Try to pay attention to what your kids enjoy and are into. Then get them books about this things, that really draws them in. Don’t forget about non fiction. If the kid is interested in animals, take out books about that, if interested in different countries or crafts or the body there are books about those too. I see reading and developing interests in kids as reciprocal.

↑ honeymoon

Yesterday at 5:31 pm

amother OP wrote:

Yes, they see for my downtime that I scroll WAY too much. On shabbos they will pick up the circle etc but that is about it. I find they feel overwhelmed at the library.

Before you go to the library make a list of the types of books they want. For example one book of short stories, one comics book and one novel. It might make it less overwhelming when they know what they're coming for.

Or tell your kids to ask their friends which books they liked. As a bonus this also creates a kind of book club vibe between their peers and encourages more reading.

If they like magazines, would you consider getting more of them for shabbos?

amother

Moonstone

Yesterday at 6:19 pm

My kids are all big readers, even the one who's likely dyslexic slogged through it until he became fluent. I would love to pat myself on the back for great modeling, but tbh I never read books during the week. On shabbos mainly just magazines. So I can't really say I'm a role model. I was known as a bookworm as a child though so maybe it is genetic?

One thing I did do was always have books available and always read to them. By always, I started when they were a few months old, so they would get the hang of how books work, pointing to things on baby board books, discussing what you see and turning pages.

I continued reading to them even after they were fluent readers.