Raising readers | Imamother

↑ singleagain

Today at 11:50 am

wiki wrote:

So far, all of my kids are big readers. Although for some this started in Pre1A and in others it took until 2nd grade to develop.

Factors that contributed:
--Each kid got a quality reading lamp attached to their bed at the start of first grade, and permission to stay up past bedtime only if they were reading a book.
--For the oldest, who learned to read during the pandemic, I spent about an hour a day on reading sessions until she was devouring chapter books herself. For each kid, we'd bribed them to finish their first few chapter books, hoping to get them hooked.
--We are library addicts, and have been since they were babies. We get the kids a variety of books, fiction but also plenty of other types (books about animals, geography, airplanes, gems, history, biography, poetry books, puzzle books, whatever), and they've all found their own particular interests.
--DH and I are constantly reading, dozens of books a year. So, part of this is nurture, and part of this is surely genetics.

But I think the reading lamp was the small thing that made the biggest difference!

You reminded me of this meme

Fox

Today at 12:16 pm

I'm with Amother Cyan on this. DH and I are both readers, and we did everything suggested and then some. My kids are now 25-31, and some are readers; some aren't.

But here's the thing I didn't realize as a younger mother: Yes, reading is obviously beneficial, but it's not the best predictor of intelligence, tenaciousness, or success. Sure, if someone literally has difficulty reading because of a learning disability or unusually low intelligence, it will be a big challenge. But over that threshold, it's just a hobby.

It also leads to an interesting skew on Imamother. Women who don't enjoy reading/writing generally don't enjoy Imamother that much. I've spoken to several very accomplished women over the years who've said things like, "I have to read and respond to stuff for work. I'm certainly not doing that for pleasure!"

It's great to give kids tools of any kind, and reading is a tool for leisure, school, and parnossah. But we readers tend to be a little snobbish about it, and I've learned that not everyone has to have that relationship with books.

amother

↑ Moonstone

Today at 2:53 pm

Fox wrote:

Absolutely 100%, this is a great point. I know very smart adults and kids who are not readers. I mentioned that all of my kids are major bookworms. Yet despite all being bookworms, some easily do well in school and others have some challenges.

All of them are terrible spellers, too, fwiw. I've had well meaning teachers suggest I encourage reading more for some particular kids, so as to improve their spelling. Teachers were shocked to hear that dc was a bookworm because, we all know that reading makes you a good speller. Well not always.

Honestly, I don't see lots of value in some of their reading preferences.

amother

↑ Brickred

Today at 4:35 pm

I'm sitting at the kitchen table with my 10 year old as she does homework. She's a big reader and I have trouble getting her enough books that are both age appropriate and at her reading level. I asked her what advice she would give parents who want to encourage reading in older kids. She suggested making it more fun than just reading a book. Together we came up with doing a monthly family book club with an end of the month discussion over yummy snacks or a literary version of bingo where everyone in the family gets a bingo board filled with various book genres (mystery, biography, science fiction, history, etc.) and has a set amount of time to complete a line to get a prize. We figure that if you get kids reading for a goal, they might come to read for fun. It could also be that they would enjoy reading a particular genre that they have just never been exposed to yet.

amother

Powderblue

Today at 4:48 pm

I didn't read the whole thread, so apologies if this is repetitious.

Your kids should see you reading, talking about books, getting excited about books.

Take them to the library for activities as well as book-choosing, and connect them with the children's librarian. Some libraries have lots of activities--puzzles, coloring, games, etc, so even kids who aren't naturally big readers will get accustomed to the idea that the library is one of the places you go regularly to enjoy yourself.

Participate in all of the library and book store free programs for motivating readers, many of which involve prizes!

On vacation, we always used to find a used book store and let the kids pick a few books to buy as vacation souvenirs. It was really to reinforce that reading and books are a great part of our leisure time.

Have the kids write to authors--they will often get replies!