My Focus on Family Life and Parenting

How to get our children to read (1)

For generations, parents have had to tackle a common problem regarding their children:  how to make them take to reading.  This may not seem like a problem at first glance for, very likely, the children already know how to read.  It’s teaching them to enjoy stories and caring for the books themselves that is harder to do.

If in the past, parents were hard put  instilling the habit of reading for pleasure as well as learning in young people, they are doubly so now.  For today they have to deal with a lot of competition such as from computer games.  TV viewing and other outside interests that have nothing to do with books.  How to entice young people away from those new electronic toys and lead them to the path of reading is what parents must try to do.

Choose Books for His Age

An effective way to do this is the tried-and-tested one of supplying the child with books intended for his age.  Choosing books this way is important because it assures a better chance of capturing the child’s interest.  Give him a book for grown-ups and he may not even get past reading its title.  It might even have negative results—unless he’s something of a genius when at the age of say, seven, he already comprehends “heavy” literature like the Greek classics or Russian novels, or even Shakespeare (I know of a girl who read Gone With the Wind at the age of nine).  You hope eventually he’ll get there, but meanwhile, choose titles with greater kid appeal.