This feature should really have been titled ' How to start them reading... and keep them at it.". As school days approach, the usual wearying sound of parents and teachers whining on about how kids don't read enough is likely to be heard around school doors, classrooms, and any place where parents tend to congregate. Nothing new really, since this issue has been the angst of many enthusiastic a parent over the past decades, although every parent believes his or her kids are the only ones who don't pick up books to read them, but just to stash them away and safely out of mind.
Take heart and take note of some of the following tried and tested recommendations that could help you entice your kids to read books and ultimately, to respect books for the incredible potential they provide.
- Starting them young means just that - the younger kids are introduced to books, the more likely are they to grow to love them and enjoy them. Read them a story in bed every night; take a book along to the doctor's waiting room; encourage them to borrow books and lend books around their peer group; animate story world to excite their imagination.
- Don't do as I do, do as I say - and that just won't work where reading is involved. Smaller kids like to emulate their parents, so if you want them to read, make sure they see you sitting down quietly and reading first. Introduce different kinds of books into the house, so children are accustomed to the presence of varied literature around their living space.
- Enrol them in a public library, go with them and help them to choose their books. Don't choose books which you like, but guide them to select books related to what they enjoy in life. Even picture books are good enough to stimulate their imagination and get them to ask questions and become curious to find out more.
- Don't dismiss comics and comic books. Certainly there will be a great deal of slang in the language used, but that usually gives children a broader vision and experience of what language is about and how people use it. Remember also that the pictorial element in this kind of story-telling helps kids understand even the new words.
- All children will enjoy magazines, especially when these are age-appropriate and include topics which they enjoy. Even when they are reading about model aeroplanes, dinosaurs, dolls or fashion supermodels on a magazine, they will be experiencing some good descriptive writing which will help them relate to the language in a broader context.
- Leave the classics for the classroom, but do entice them to read classics by letting them watch the movie versions where these are suitable for their age group. So for instance watching Keira Knightley in the 2005 screen adaptation of 'Pride & Prejudice' may actually tempt your teenage daughter to read the actual book version of Jane Austen's masterpiece. It would help if you read it yourself and were able to discuss it with her. That was partly also the reason behind the success of the Harry Potter book series - kids could read the book and look forward to seeing it all materialise on screen.
- e-readers; iPad newsstands, i-books are all very well if your child manages to stay on the same page long enough to read it - there is always the temptation to scan the web and lose interest as soon as a difficult word crops up in the text.
- If your child has difficulty with reading due to a disability, audio books can work just as well - they are excellent alternatives that will still immerse the child in story world.
- Young adult novels (known as YA books) are a superb alternative to classic fiction since they give teenagers a rather more contemporary take on the novel genre. Best contemporary novels to look out for are Jennifer Niven, Pierce Brown, Gayle Forman and David Arnold, to name a few.
- For younger kids, there are the glorious series which come in a never-ending selection of titles such as the Geronimo Stilton series, or for older ones - the Percy Jackson series, Animorphs, Road Dahl books, Harry Potter, etc.