Teaching your kids to love reading

Well school and kindy drop-offs have been negotiated and we’re getting back into the school routine. My kids are in Year 2 and Year 1 this year, with Miss Matilda starting kindy. I’m a mum like any other mum, and I want my children to thrive in school. I want them to love learning. So…

… I did what all parents in this Googly age do and turned to the internet. I found many great articles that all detailed fairly similar a wonderful article by Common Sense Media: How To Raise A Reader.

To summarise, the basic principles are to model good reading habits, read aloud to your kids regularly, find them books to inspire them, and surround them with literature – visit libraries and bookstores routinely, always have books on hand to read at any moment.

This wonderful article, which is really worth looking at, resonated deeply with me and it came at a time when my own love of reading bedtime stories was flagging. I was growing bored with our selection of stories, I suspected the kids were also growing bored with them (judging by their lack of enthusiasm and attentiveness during storytime), and I was finding it difficult to sit down and go through three books every night.

Sound familiar?

Parents often start reading bedtime stories to their children when their children are young, but as children start to learn to read those good habits fall away. “Ah, they can read to themselves, they don’t need me,” is the reasoning.

But the Common Sense Media article – and others I read – stressed that reading aloud to children continues to be an important tool for their development. They learn intonation, expression and myriad other skills, from listening to us, the experienced reader, read to them. It also gives them a chance to use their imagination, practice at visualising mental pictures and creating scenery in their minds.

For this reason I insist (or try to) that children read the books first of popular films they want to watch. We began, (but have yet to finish), Harry Potter before I allowed them to watch it. Now, when they listen to me reading to them, it is my hope that the pictures in their head are their own, not the Hollywood pictures. Also, it is an interesting exercise for them to be able to compare different interpretations of the same words. I want them to understand that there are more ways to imagine something than just the way they picture it.

Are you getting a little bored with the reading selection in your home?

The library is a great resource, but so are the Scholastic book lists that come home regularly from kindy and school. The books in them are very affordable, starting at just $2 often. The message to focus on is that books are important, reading material is interesting and to keep it fresh. One of my enduring memories of school is the excitement of choosing books from the book list and then eagerly anticipating their arrival. Then, when they arrive, I recall rushing home to read my latest purchase. I know sometimes when budgets are tight that finding the extra dosh to buy new books can be tough. But I try – and am going to try harder this year – to make that effort to find the extra pennies. It’s important.

Middle child DJ is a natural reader and reads everything he can get his hands on. But oldest child Fin struggles at times and I know that I need to work hardest to keep this one inspired to read.

We’ve tumbled onto the Captain Underpants series, thanks to my ever-wonderful sister-in-law Caroline who knows everything worth knowing about children’s literature. I will be brutally honest, I don’t love these books, but my sons do. They are funny and irreverent and my boys laugh themselves silly every time we crack the cover. And the magical part is we crack the covers often. The boys request Captain Underpants every night and we read a lot, and enthusiastically. It’s great! Another popular series is the Tashi series. We’re also deep into Zac Power, a child spy often on undercover missions. The Zac Power series comes in different variations – a series for young readers and also a series for older readers.

The important thing is simply that they read, not what they read. Comic books, books about bugs, cook books, gardening manuals – anything is OK.

So in summary, for mums and dads who are looking to help their children read, who want to inspire a love of reading, a few simple guidelines:

• read often for your own pleasure
• read often to your children
• find books that spark their interest, that they find funny, or interesting, or that fires their imagination
• introduce them to new books all the time
• carry a book with you all the time so that no opportunity is missed to read to your kids