Five Ways To Get Your Child Interested In Reading
by Gimbiya Galadima Reading is perhaps one of the most effective ways your child can learn. Studies have shown that children who read more do better at school and have a richer vocabulary. The problem is, getting some children interested in reading these days is not always an easy task. Naturally, children of all ages like to play, so putting a book into the hands of a preoccupied child will not produce the same level of excitement as gifting that child a new toy, doll, game console. However, children are young and impressionable. With some delicate coaxing and training, your child can be made to enjoy reading and understand its importance. Here are five suggestions to help make your child interested in reading.
1. READ: Children imitate the actions of adults living around them—they will read when they see you read. When you read to your child, you encourage them to develop a love of reading and learning. Reading aloud to children helps stimulate their interest in books and improves their vocabulary. In addition, you will both benefit from the increased bond and the fond memories you will create together during this time. While it’s no secret that many children love bedtime stories, try reading a book after lunch or dinner to sneak in more reading time during the day. Start with picture books that have simple words such as cow, dog, cat, etc., and then progress to more complex books depending on the child’s age and level of understanding and interest. For added bonding time, you can snuggle with your child and read your own books next to one another. Even if your child is not yet capable of reading, just having them hold a book in their hands is setting a good example for future habits. For your own reading, you could read books that are centered on parenting and other topics of interest. However, it is a good idea to be mindful to keep books with adult themes out of the reach of children, as they can easily pick up age-inappropriate words from such books.
2. PROVIDE MOTIVATION: You can increase your child’s interest in reading by encouraging good reading habits by offering words of appreciation and encouragement. This will motivate your child to read more books. Try setting weekly or monthly reading goals. For example, awarding your child with a special treat for reading a set number of books will encourage him or her to read more. Children may become bored when they see reading as a mundane chore so try tracking it on a chart with colorful stickers. Bear in mind that they might become overwhelmed when they struggle with some words in a book while trying to read in an atmosphere that does not encourage it.
As a parent, you could explain difficult words to your child and make them understand that reading is fun and interesting. Create interesting games centered around describing characters from a book or act out what the characters did in a book to retell the story in a fun and engaging way. This will not only give your child a positive mindset towards reading, but will encourage him or her to read more books. In the long run, your child will love to read and share books with you.
3.LEAVE BOOKS EVERYWHERE: Absence does not make the hearts of book readers grow fonder. The presence of a book will spark curiosity in anyone, whether adult or child. Children are drawn to colorful books with beautiful and catchy cover designs. Buy these types of children’s books, or borrow them from your local library, and leave them for your child to find them all over the house. Consider this a treasure hunt game: you could use sticky notes with arrows drawn on them to make the game of finding the books more engaging. Leave books on or under tables, on shelves and chairs, and in your child’s room. It is a good idea to arrange books in a manner with the covers visible, rather than the spine. Keep that tip in mind when arranging the rooms for the treasure hunt: book spines do not often invoke as much interest as book covers for children. Let the books fill your house and watch your child get more interested in them.
4. SET ASIDE A TIME FOR READING: For older children, chores and other activities may eat up their reading time. As a parent, you can make your child more interested in reading by designating a time every day, week, or month for your family to read. The reading schedule does not have to be rigid. While some personality types find rigid schedules helpful, others find them too constricting (and boring!). Work with your child’s personality to ensure the best results. Create a flexible reading timetable that enables your child to select their favorite books and do other fun activities. Reading together as a family during a specific period of time will create a mental reading alarm for yourself and your child, even in years to come. On days when reading together is not possible, encourage your child to read by themselves. This will promote a habit of regular reading and learning. Do not stretch the reading periods for too long so that reading does not become a mundane task, though this will vary depending on the age and interest level of the child. Incorporate periods of leisure so that your child can take a break from reading and return to his or her books feeling refreshed.
5.REDUCE DISTRACTIONS: Mobile devices, televisions, and game consoles may not be the best motivator for your child’s reading. Using these devices too often as a parent could encourage such behavior in your child. It is ideal to reduce the time spent on phones, tablets, televisions, and game consoles. By simplifying your family life free from unnecessary distractions, the remaining time can be used for taking walks, bonding with your family, and reading. The world in which we live largely depends on digital communication, so it is unreasonable to completely avoid the use of gadgets at home. You can, however, limit the number of hours spent on these devices and incorporate more reading into your child’s free time. Children will interact with their peers and are likely to develop interests other than gadgets when they are restricted. You are your child’s primary role model, so ensure that when you limit the use of mobile devices and encourage reading, you are spending your free time poring into books.
Author
