Getting Children Interested In Reading

[Scott Hughes]

Getting Children Interested In Reading
by Scott Hughes

Most people already know the benefits of reading. People learn by reading. People also have fun and feel fulfilled by reading. As a person reads more and more, the person's literary skills improve. Reading makes people into better readers, writers, and speakers.

Unfortunately, children do not read much anymore. Because most people never get interested in reading as children, as adults they also do not read much. Some polls even say that the majority of people in the United States do not read anymore. You probably want your children to pick up the beneficial hobby of reading. Let me suggest a few ways that you can get children interested in reading.

Less TV - You can get children to read more by getting them to watch less TV. Children read less because they lazily waste their time rotting their mind in front of a TV--a behavior they usually pick up from their parents. Consider deciding not to have a TV, or at least do not have cable. Even if you do have a TV, watch less yourself because children model their behavior after the adults in their life.

Suggest Books That Would Interest The Child - You can also get children to read by helping them find books they like. You can do this by bringing the children to a library or book store and letting them pick out books that interest them. You can also suggest books about topics of interest to the child. For example, if you have a child who likes to play soccer, consider suggesting a book about soccer to the child.

Do Not Push Too Hard - If you try to force children to read, or if you otherwise pressure them to much, you will make them dislike reading. Try not to make reading seem like a chore. Instead, you want to get the children to read on their own free-will. You want them to read voluntarily because they see the fun and self-benefit of it. Forcing your children to read will make them into good slaves who like to obey orders, but it will not make them into good readers who like to read.

Teach Children To Read Well - Children will not want to read if they cannot do it or if they cannot do it well. People like to do what they do well. If you have a talent for singing, you would like to sing. In contrast, if you sing horribly, you will not waste your time embarrassing yourself at it. Children will want to read more if they feel like they read well. Teach them how to read better in a positive environment. Additionally, compliment their reading abilities so that they feel proud and confident of their reading abilities. If they feel proud and confident of their reading abilities, the children will want to read more.

Use those methods to get your children to read more. Also, feel free to think of more methods.

Whatever you do, good luck and have fun!

About the Author: Scott Hughes owns and operates a website about books for readers at OnlineBookClub.org. You can discuss this article and reading in general at the Book and Reading Forums. It's completely free.

What do you think of the article and getting children to read?
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[awelker]

that is a good article. it is true too. parents need to give their children books that are going to interest them.
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[callalilly]

That is a good article. I work with juvenile delinquents from ages 12-18 and I encourage them to read all of the time. I didn't read so much in high school but I did in Middle school and loved it. I wish someone had encouraged me to read in high school, I probably would have read more. Encouragement is always needed. I have been known to go and buy books at borders for kids to read while they stay in the facility. I just want kids to read period!

[saracen77]

I have 3 kids, boys of 12 and 6 and a girl of nearly 3.

I have found that TV kills almost everything, including reading. If the TV is on, then even less demanding pursuits get ignored, toys get forgotten, no creative play. To get anything imaginative out of a child, the TV must be limited.

There seems to be stages that the kids have gone through, and as different as they all are, they seem to have been in similar places at similar times.

As toddlers, where my little girl is now, they have all been avid "readers". Picture books and fables have been lapped up, along with hours of looking at pictures and making up nonsense to go with them independently.

Both the older ones dropped off with the enthusiasm as they actually started to learn to read. This reflects your "do it well" comments. They suddenly found that they had to do some work here to make this happen and weren't sure if it was really worth the effort. My 12 year old has unfortunately drifted away from reading, despite being given the opportunity and encouragement. My 6 year old, on the other hand, has come through the hard work stage, and is actually reading for pleasure now.

He reads stories to his sister and is really enjoying it again. I hope we can sustain this as he gets older. I think the trick will be to try to entice his brother back in before he is faced with set texts and the like, which he will find easier if he is actually enjoying the experience rather than just being forced to do it.

[nosferatu]

We schedule time for reading most nights. My 5 year old is in the middle of The Voyage of The Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis. My 7 year old son is autistic and mostly likes comic books, but as long as he gets to act out the part we're reading he's all good.

[sleepydumpling]

TV really is the curse on reading isn't it? Even I can't read if there is a TV going somewhere!
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[CassieXO]

Well my mother was never a reader, and so as a child I never really read either.
Then, when I was 8 or 9 my aunt sent us a copy of the first Harry Potter, my mom read it to me and my brother, and ever since I have been hooked.
I think for some children, they just need the opportunity to get into books!

[saracen77]

I think the TV can be OK, if you have the right kind of personality. I can see that for probably a majority of people it distracts, but I can actually read through anything. The whole world disappears to the point where people sometimes have to shake me to get a response, so TV doesn't actually make any impact on my reading concentration.

For the kids though, thats a whole different kettle of fish. With the attention spans that rival goldfish, kids need the plain environment to keep them focussed. Even when we are in our reading and concentrating frame of mind with no music or tv, even something like a bird flying past the window can deal a blow to whatever we were supposed to be doing in the first place.

I have a teacher friend who says that kids attention spans are being degraded by the way they make kids TV these days. 2 or 3 minute short programs full of bright colours, loud noises and big movement apparently condition the attention span down to those little soundbytes, and teachers are finding it increasingly difficult to get accross ideas that take more than 2 minutes to sink in.

[BookClubQueen]

Hey Scott,
I think this is a great article! I actually wrote something similar for my own site recently - Reading Books to Children and Book Clubs for Children.

I think the main thing I've learned as a teacher, a sister who played a huge part in raising 2 younger brothers, and now a mother myself is that you must always be positive when reading with your kids. The biggest mistake we can make as adults is to say "no" or "stop" or "don't" in relation to a book. Especially with young children when building the love and habit for reading is crucial, you should always teach them to love their books.

Let them pick the books up, let them put the books in their mouths, let them tear a page if it happens. Instead of saying "no" we say "books are our friends" or "this is how we treat a book" and show them the proper way. If we force our children to associate the word "NO" with a book, eventually that'll turn into apathy about reading. How many things do you do or enjoy doing in conjunction with someone telling you "no" all the time?

Teaching Kids to Read should be our main goal in education and parenting right now. If we want to produce a strong generation of well-educated people, reading comes first![/url]
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[Midge]

My son went through a spell in Primary school of reading a lot. But now he won't even pic up a book. I admit I have been pushing him to read, so this is one thing I'll have to stop. That was a good article. I found it helpful.

[feelyou]

thank you for this topic
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[Star]

Well it certainly is a challenge to parents, teachers, mentors to keep most children and older adolescence's interested in reading. But it can be done. You have to be creative and above all make it a pleasurable experience..take them outside in the fresh air when its allowed by mother nature..do character voices..put effort into it, puppets are a good way with the smaller children. Costumes..especially dressing up as their favorite book characters. I myself have taken several story lesson classes. I would suggest this to anyone with involvement with children..afterall children are our future..what we teach then now they will carry with them through life=)

[Scott Hughes]

Thanks for your replies!

I imagine it must work well to help the child find a series that he or she likes a lot on his or her own.

I remember as a child I use to read the Animorphs series religiously. Oh, I couldn't stand having to wait for the next book in the series to come out. When I had one, I probably spent way more time reading than the adults around me would want. At the very least, I didn't need encouragement. It was like I had an addiction.
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Online Book Club ~ Tell your friends!

"Only the descent into the hell of self-knowledge can pave the way to godliness." -Immanuel Kant

[Kenith Jackson]

encouraging kids to read book is a tough job, you should give them book that caught their attention. It is always good if the kids become a book reader, rather than watch TV all they long. I love reading book, but when I was a kid it is to expensive to us to buy one, so I just read book that is being provided by school. When I reached high school, I often went to library to read and spend most of my break time scanning the library shelves. Kenith,

[abdelali_nouina]

nice