Instilling A Desire To Read In Kids

I love to write about reading - that’s because I love to read myself. It’s one of my favorite things to do in my free time, and whenever I can squeeze a few minutes in. Reading allows me to get my mind off of many of the other things that are going on in my life, and get into a completely different world.

However, I also want my kids to enjoy reading as well. I want them to find themselves swept away in a book to a different world, and to be able to understand and learn new things from writing.

In order to instill that desire to read, I must read to them. If you don’t read to your kids, then they will likely not want to read as they grow older. Reading is not easy, and it takes a lot of work. There are many people in the United States, and across the world, who can’t read at all. Reading takes a lot of work.

Since reading takes so much work, you’re going to have to help your kids find that desire by opening up the world of reading to them. Reading to your kids is a great way for them to experience different worlds and emotions and to use their imagination.

However, just because you read to your kids, doesn’t mean that they’ll want to read themselves. They may fight it regardless. Don’t force it upon them. Forcing your child to do something they don’t want to will make them want to do that thing even less. Instead, show them what they are missing out on.

In order to show kids what they’re missing out on, you have to continue to read to them, and open up new worlds and meanings to them.

You should find books that your kids enjoy, and will want to listen to. Don’t try to read War and Peace to your six year old. They’ll probably never want to pick the book up if you do (they probably won’t want to anyways, but you still shouldn’t try it). Instead, get a book that has a few pictures in it that they can look at while you read.

Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay

For younger children, read picture books. We are huge fans of Dr. Seuss books around our home, and our son loves when we read them to him. We have several other similar types of books that we read on a very regular basis to our kids - sometimes our older son will read them to his younger brother as well.

Be sure to read and re-read the same books if your child wants to hear them. Yes, you will likely get sick of them, but your child will begin to recognize the words as you continuously read them. My oldest son first read Green Eggs and Ham when he was not quite four years old.  This is because we read that book hundreds of times to him before that point, and he was understanding (and memorizing) the words.

As you read to your children, point to the words in the book. This will help them to recognize that there are words, and that you’re reading them out of the book. It will also help them to start to recognize common words in books. Additionally you can sometimes point to the picture of a word to help them to put the meaning of a word together.

Be sure that you read to your children every single day. Whenever that is, make sure your kids are hearing you read on a consistent and regular basis to them. For us, that happens every night before bed. We spend 15 to 20 minutes reading before bed as part of our regular bedtime routine. Since we have a good range in size between our kids, we read both picture books and chapter books. While the younger son doesn’t always listen to the chapter books, he actually does a pretty good job with listening.

When you read, try to bring some emotion to your reading. When there are exclamation points, speak with emphasis. When words are bolded or italicized, then change your inflection. If you can, try to give slight differences in your voice for different characters. All of these things will help your kids to become more involved in what you’re reading. The more you read to your kids, the better you’ll become and help them to feel what the words are trying to convey by the way you read.

As your kids get older, try to make sure they’re understanding what you’re reading. Every few minutes, stop to ask your child what something might mean. Perhaps a word is used in a different way then they may be familiar with, or perhaps it’s a word that they don’t know. Stop to explain the word and what it means. Helping children to gain an understanding of the context of words will help them to figure out what new words mean in the future.

Finally, make sure your kids are seeing you read. If you’re never reading a book, it’s unlikely that your kids will want to read. If you’re always watching TV, looking at your phone, or playing games, then that’s what your child will want to do. I carry my Kindle with me basically everywhere I go, and my kids see me read on a very regular basis. Even if they don’t grow up as avid readers, I believe that it will leave an impression on them.

Conclusion

In order to raise kids who want to read, and live to read, you have to work hard. You’ll have to read many books to them, and spend many hours repeating the same words over and over again.