How to make children fall in love with reading?

Can you actually make your child fall in love with reading?

Is there one magic answer?

All children are different, with different interests. However, I believe you can help children fall in love with reading by:
1. visiting the library
2. letting them see you read
3. reading together

Library Visits
Take your children to the library. Let them pick out a ridiculous number of books. Let them select books that are too hard, too easy and have potty humor. Let them pick books that they already have a copy of at home, but it’s a favorite and they want to read the library’s copy. As a family, we currently have over 100 books checked out. Will we read them all? No. But will we find new favorites? Of course. I can’t go out today and buy 100 new books for my family, but we can check out 100 books to enjoy and then return for others to do the same.

Let Them See You Read
“I don’t have time to read.” “I am too tired to read.” “I should be making dinner or swapping laundry instead of sitting and reading.” I’ve said all of these phrases and more. When my kids were younger, we read before their bedtime, but I did not read for pleasure. I realized I missed reading and set a goal of reading four pages each night. FOUR PAGES!? That’s it. If I only read four, great. Often times, I’d sink into my pillow and read more. It started the habit and I looked forward to reading each night.

There may be times that your family is in the car. A few years ago, our family was on a two day road trip to Florida. Using the Libby App through our library, we listened to Mary Pope Osborne’s Magic Tree House series while driving there and coming home. It was enjoyable for the whole family and we ended up getting through over 10 books.

I am a big fan of audiobooks and it has allowed me to get through more books during a year while accomplishing other tasks. Two years ago, I wrote this post titled, “Are Audiobooks Cheating?”

Read Together
A lot of parents, grandparents and caregivers do an exceptional job reading to their little ones, at nap time, bed time or when trying to help them take a break. Just because your child can read, DON’T STOP READING TO THEM. I have two children who are great readers, but at night before bed, we are working through the Harry Potter series. It’s still a bit too challenging for our youngest to read on her own, but children can typically comprehend more challenging reading material when it is read to them. They can focus all of their energy on the story rather than decoding. Right now, we do not have to search for a book at night, we simply pick up right where we left off. Will we get through the entire series? Who knows? Who cares? For now, it works. I am dreading the day they don’t want to listen to a story.

Find what works best for you and your family. If possible, visit the library, let them see you read and read together.

Wishing you the chance to fall in love with reading and help those around you do the same.

#loveforreading #readeveryday #modelreading #familytime #storytime #library #libraryvisits