Cultivating a Love of Reading
It is no secret that every one of my family members is an avid reader. So much so, that recently we decided to track how many books our family read in one single week, and we surprised even ourselves. We read a whopping 468 childrens books in one week (plus another 876 pages between Ron and I!)
First of all, why is reading so important with children? Well, I think we all know that children need to be able to read at certain levels to thrive in school, but it goes beyond that. I believe we were created to be lifelong learners, and one of the best ways we can learn is by reading. This can be both fiction and non-fiction. Beyond academics, reading encourages your child’s imagination, broadens their perspectives, makes them more empathetic, teaches them new things, sparks creativty, supports cognitive development, and increases concentration. There are endless benefits to reading!
How is it that all 5 of our children have a profound love of reading? I don’t believe that it is coincidence. So here are some helpful tips to foster an environment where children will fall in love with reading from an early age.
Start Early
With each of our children, I started reading to them as infants. In the beginning, it looked a lot like just showing pictures to our child, to then making it through a page or two of reading words, to reading whole, but simple board books, to eventually sitting for longer picture books. It is a process! Now with my 5th child, I certainly tire of reading Moo, Ba, La, La, La for the 500th time in my life, but I remind myself that it is laying a foundation for him. They need this foundation to build up stamina and interest in sitting and listening to books.
Engage with your Children
I am a very busy mom (aren’t we all?), but when my kids ask me to read them a book, I almost always stop what I’m doing and sit down to read with them. If I have time, I’ll read for a longer stretch, but if not, I read the one book and go back to what I was working on. Reading is one way the kids know that they can get my undivided attention. I’m not checking slack messages, talking with a friend, or anything else while I’m reading. I’m 100% present with them. And I honestly think that may be the biggest draw of all for my kids to ask me to read to them! (And bonus, reading is also the perfect sitting activity for a tired mom!)
Make it a Priority
Every family has different priorities. For some families, it might be sports. If that is the case, you might buy a T-ball set for your toddler, practice catching and throwing with them every day, and eventually they are primed and ready to go when they start playing sports. In the same way, my family prioritizes reading. It is something we all partake in daily. My youngest 3 are read to at least an hour a day, and even with my older two’s busy schedules, we ensure that every day they have at least 45 minutes of reading time.
Set the Example
If children are going to see reading as enjoyable and something that is going to last a lifetime, they need to see it modeled out by the adults around them. My husband and I read a lot. Most evenings we read our own books alongside our big kids before they go to bed. We read on lazy Sunday afternoons. They hear us talk about the things we’re reading. They see how it is a part of our every day lives, and children emulate what they see.
Keep Books Accessible
We have accumulated quite a few children’s books over the years, and our little library is my favorite area of our home. In every home we’ve lived in, our bookshelves have always been near where the adults hang. Right now, all of our kids’ toys are stored in their rooms, but not the books. This is actually quite purposeful. Most small children want to be near the adults, and not alone in their room. This is why we keep our bookshelves out in the open, near where we usually are. It means they naturally gravitate more to books over anything else, as they are more readily at hand. My toddlers have always camped out at the bookshelves pulling books off the shelf and flipping through pages, all while keeping a close eye on me in the kitchen. It’s quite amazing that a 1.5 year old can sit for 20 minutes looking at books by themself!
Utilize your Public Library
When I only had little kids, it seemed easier to just amass the board books and picture books for our own personal library. After all, most babies - preschoolers just want you to read the same 5 books on repeat. But as my kids have gotten older and I now have two reading chapter books on their own, it’s hard to keep up with them. I keep some classic chapter books, but as they usually don’t reread most books, we spend a lot of time at the library. We make it a priority to go the library once a week. It’s a highlight of the kids’ week, and quite frankly, a highlight of mine. My husband and I always joke that we love Library Day, because they are so calm and quietly engrossed in their new books when we come home. It’s the quietest evening of our week!
Introduce Variety
Maybe your child is struggling to want to read, or maybe they are stuck in a certain genre of book (graphic novels, sigh). Try to introduce a variety of books for them to read. Choose both fiction and non-fiction. Use your trips to the public library to explore different kinds of books together. I have also found that it is helpful for my kids to talk to the children’s librarian and hear their suggestions. For some reason when the librarian suggests The Hobbit, it sounds so much more enticing than when Mom and Dad suggested it.
Enforce Positivity with Reading
Reading should never be a punishment or a chore. It should be something that sparks excitement in a child. If your child is struggling to be motivated to read, take them to the library and pick out books together, invite a friend to join them in a book club, find books tailored to their current interests, or start a weekly parent-child reading date at Starbucks. Find creative ways to make reading fun for them!
We also use reading as a way to calm our (extremely) active boys. Rather than getting to the point of time outs and consequences, we’ll suggest that they grab a book and sit quietly instead. This helps them settle down, and it allows them to use reading as a tool for self-regulation.Build Routine
Most children thrive on routines. If reading isn’t already a regular part of your family’s routines, slowly work to build it in. For us, it looks like our little guys being read to for 20-30 minutes in the morning and before bedtime. Sometimes in the afternoons, if there are no activities or if it’s a rainy day, we’ll all spend some extra time reading. Our older two are also allowed to stay up an extra 45 minutes, but only if they read. Again, it’s all about framing reading in a positive light. They are excited at this privaledge they have over their younger siblings, and they get a sneak peek at what Mom and Dad do after they go to bed (spoiler alert, it’s reading).
Quiet Reading Time
This is a phrase that even my 2 year old can understand, as it has been so engrained in our family’s routines. Even before our family went screen-free, we were implementing “quiet reading time.” This started when our first child stopped napping, but we still had others napping and weren’t sure how to preserve our precious down time. It has continued on for the last 6 years. It is as simple as it sounds; whenever I say that it is Quiet Reading Time, the kids know that they are to each grab a book and sit by themselves and read. It’s not a time that I read to the children, but a time to practice independent reading. Even our children who can’t actually read yet participate. They look at the pictures, which by the way, is an excellent pre-reading skill! We use Quiet Reading Time on the weekends when little ones are napping, during the summer months when kids are home from school, on vacations, car rides, plane rides, random evenings that are just too hectic and I need some peace and quiet, anywhere!
Practice, Practice, Practice
I recognize that for me, some of this is a lot easier than it might be for others, after all, I myself love to read. But if it’s important to you, just keep practicing at it! Setting up some of these positive and meaningful ways to love reading means that when it comes time to teaching your kid how to read, it will be much easier. They will already have a love for reading and be eager for the independence. And know that it takes time. Every kid is different, my first child was reading chapter books by age 4, my second by age 6, and currently my third child is 5 and is just learning to read. Go at your child’s pace and interest, keeping it fun along the way.
Be Gracious
Whether cultivating a love of reading in your home is a new concept or not, be gracious with yourself. There are plently of days where we are busy going straight from one ball game to the next all the way until bedtime. There are days where one (or all) of us are sick. There are days we have family outings. There are all sorts of disruptions that happen in life to shake up our routines. But I always just try to get back to it at some point. And know that even reading 1 or 2 books that day still makes a difference.
