Getting Children Interested In Reading

[Betty Haynes 813]

It is really hard to get someone to read when they are not interested in reading. My husband knows how to read, but he is really not interested in doing it. Some people just don't want to sit down and read. I have had the pleasure of teaching students that struggle with reading. The most important thing I could do for them was to make it an enjoyable learning process. Don't make it overwhelming for them.
I feel if reading was important to you as a child you will grow up enjoying. It is hard to get an adult interested in reading.

Sometimes I think you have the gift of knowing how to read, why not use it? But to each their own.

[pa3de8]

It is really hard to get someone to read when they are not interested in reading. My husband knows how to read, but he is really not interested in doing it. Some people just don't want to sit down and read. I have had the pleasure of teaching students that struggle with reading. The most important thing I could do for them was to make it an enjoyable learning process. Don't make it overwhelming for them.
I feel if reading was important to you as a child you will grow up enjoying. It is hard to get an adult interested in reading.

Sometimes I think you have the gift of knowing how to read, why not use it? But to each their own.

Well said about your hubby Betty. But does he sit down and watch TV? Does he sit down and read the paper? With kids it's hard to get them to read but if they can sit down and mindlessly watch TV for hours on end, or play video games for hours on end, they should be able to sit down and read for hours on end. The key, as been stated, is to find something that catches their interest. They now make lots of books based off off video games. Could be a place to start. Think the biggest place to start though is in school. Teachers need to get kids into reading more. I think a big movement in this country should be made towards getting children into reading. there should be a HUGE push for it.

Scott B.

[Betty Haynes 813]

It is really hard to get someone to read when they are not interested in reading. My husband knows how to read, but he is really not interested in doing it. Some people just don't want to sit down and read. I have had the pleasure of teaching students that struggle with reading. The most important thing I could do for them was to make it an enjoyable learning process. Don't make it overwhelming for them.
I feel if reading was important to you as a child you will grow up enjoying. It is hard to get an adult interested in reading.

Sometimes I think you have the gift of knowing how to read, why not use it? But to each their own.

Well said about your hubby Betty. But does he sit down and watch TV? Does he sit down and read the patper? With kids it's hard to get them to read but if they can sit down and mindlessly watch TV for hours on end, or play video games for hours on end, they should be able to sit down and read for hours on end. The key, as been stated, is to find something that catches their interest. They now make lots of books based off off video games. Could be a place to start. Think the biggest place to start though is in school. Teachers need to get kids into reading more. I think a big movement in this country should be made towards getting children into reading. there should be a HUGE push for it.


My husband will read comic book from time to time. But he never discourages me from reading. I agree that if they can sit and do other things, why not read? As a teacher I know the importance of reading at school, it is my hope that parents foster of love of reading at home.

Scott B.

[Doyag]

Or a good way is to ban them from reading.. so they would do it behind our backs. lool.
That's a good article. that's exactly how i was brought up. My parents would take me to the bookstore and allow us to pick our own books.

[lincolnp]

My 22 yr old was a book worm from the start, my 12 yr old - not so much. I was not able to spend the time with my younger one, reading with her like I did her sister (health issues with my husband). That is one of my biggest regrets. We did get her the less expensive Kindle for Christmas, and I keep praying for the book that GRABS her, that she can't put down.

[pawpoint]

I also find that if i send my kids to bed half an hour before they usually go, but tell them that they can read for half an hour before lights out, then this gives them an incentive to read. If they are really quiet and getting into the books then I give them an extra fifteen minutes as a bonus.

[GParks]

I have a feeling that interactive ebooks will probably become the standard for children's books. It makes reading more of a game, which could hold their attention more. Has anyone here used interactive ebooks before? I'd like to hear what you guys think.

[SamIAm23]

For my four year old I cut her tv time to 1 hour a day. I bought her a V-Reader for christmas to kinda help get her interested in at least hearing stories( it reads to them). So far she loves it and has been learning short words like and, it, my, in, out. Should I be doing more for her?

[Ollie_94]

The way my mother did it for my siblings and I was whenever we achieved something, our treat would be a book of our choice. I've loved reading ever since!

[shaphat]

When I was little my mom would read to me a lot. She also bought many audio books so I could listen to them as well. When I started to read she gave me books that had pleasant illustrations and big font. I think that perhaps what made me love literature was the need I had to hear more amusing stories. I think that tv nowadays lacks the ability to tell stories the way books do.

[Tralala]

For my four year old I cut her tv time to 1 hour a day. I bought her a V-Reader for christmas to kinda help get her interested in at least hearing stories( it reads to them). So far she loves it and has been learning short words like and, it, my, in, out. Should I be doing more for her?

Sounds good, so far. Are you reading to her, yourself?

[meggsie]

My nine year old is a math and science freak but he doesn't like reading much fiction books. However non-fiction he is all over. I did have him read wizard of oz this year but he did that knowing if he finished it I would get him the movie for his birthday. He is now reading about amazing animals and shocked me the other night when he told me he wanted to read more than his needed 30 pages for the night before he went to sleep.... I say keep it interesting. Find what the kid is interested in and build off of that.

[Dreamer27]

To read yourself and take a child to a bookshop,where is all the time a lot of nice books and specific (pleasant )smell of paper.....I loved it when I was a child.Actually I do not have any problems with my child about it.She reads from 3 y.o and reading is her favorite hobby. As well intelligent games like Chess and other related to composition of words,sentences in any language like English,Russian,French,Spanish,Latvian,Romanian and a little bit Italian.Now she studies German,so it will be already her 7th language in her early 9 years......And nobody forced her to read and study languages-she simply looked at us (her family-which is example for any child always)and she saw that mother(me)speaks 7 languages and father -9,and both we like to read,as well our parents (her grandparents)so it is something normal for her,let say routine,regular.

[Daffodil]

what has worked for us has been:

1) get rid of cable
2) movie/video game tie in books
3) leaving assorted books laying around that we hope the kids might like (this works because they get bored and then pick it up .. and shockingly decide they like it!)

I love this idea of leaving books laying around. You know, I come back from the library, biceps burning from carrying the books, then store them in the corner near the computer out of sight until I remember to pull one out - or when I have time to read to the kids. I'm going to put them on DISPLAY!! Local library eat your heart out!

My 3 kids are quite keen on reading to ME .. but I picked up a little novel from the kids section today that I thought my 7yo could try - although perhaps a little hard - and then decided that I would read it to them for a change. It's called 'Away with the Birds' by Errol Broome and it was shortlisted by The Children's Book Council of Australia (bronze sticker).

-- 25 Mar 2012, 21:39 --

My nine year old is a math and science freak but he doesn't like reading much fiction books. However non-fiction he is all over. I did have him read wizard of oz this year but he did that knowing if he finished it I would get him the movie for his birthday. He is now reading about amazing animals and shocked me the other night when he told me he wanted to read more than his needed 30 pages for the night before he went to sleep.... I say keep it interesting. Find what the kid is interested in and build off of that.

Meggsie - I'd ben keen to hear what books you've been getting him for 'non fiction'. My 7yo is a great reader but I'm struggling with finding him books of interest. He enjoys the Zac Power and Boy vs Beast, Pokemon but nothing else is gripping him. His teacher suggested some non-fiction so I'm a bit of a novice in picking something in this area.

[steve p]

I don't know if my son (14) has ever finished reading a novel in his life. It upsets me a great deal at what he's missing, but nothing I can do seems to get him interested in reading fiction. maybe it's a generation thing, because kids seem not to do many things that I did when little (playing outside, for instance).

steve