What parents wouldn't want their children to love books? I know I am thrilled when one of my children are caught with a book in their hands. You know, the "unassigned" kind! I was a reader as a child but today holds more of a challenge to instill a love of reading in our kids. Today we have to compete with iphones, ipads, computers, electronic games, movies, etc. etc. etc. When I was a kid the only distraction came in the form of the idiot box. And fortunately for me my dad rarely let us children veg in front of it. Of course, we complained, stomped, screamed, and all that but it never swayed my dad! Today, however, I am thankful for it.
So today, how do we instill a love of reading in our offspring? If you have read this far you are probably thinking that I have formulated some great plan to accomplish this but I haven't. I apologize! I do know this though!
Kids are naturally curious and have a natural tendency towards learning new things. And reading to them from great books from infant hood is key in developing these desires. They are fascinated with the stories mom and dad read to them as a small child and as they grow it is only natural for the fire that you built in them as a young child to continue to burn with the children feeding it themselves once they learn to read on their own. Like anything, teaching and training while young is key to nearly everything we want our children to learn. Some simple tips to begin your child on his/her journey into the wonderful world of books.
Read out loud to them while they are very young.
Take them to your local library frequently and let them choose their own (appropriate) books.
Interest them in little 'tea parties' where reading aloud to them imparting good feelings towards books.
Perhaps design a 'special' reading place for your child with baskets of favorite classic books, pillows and blankets.
Send extra praise towards your reluctant reader upon completion of reading for a specified time.
And most of all, again, as with anything we mom and pops do example soars above all else. Pick up a book yourself and in doing so you will be sending a powerful message to your children.
And remember this. No matter how much you plead, bribe, beg, demand, or even expect some form of read to come from your child it just might not happen. If this is the case then I suggest that you stop beating yourself up and accept that for whatever reason your child is either not ready, or simply is not interested in reading at all. It happens, because we are all created individually by a loving creator and no one is created equal. Different strokes for different folks.
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