Reading is a love and a passion. It is also the gateway to a
million amazing experiences. Through reading we can learn about other worlds as
well as our own. We can move through history and experience other peoples
adventures. Reading opens up the world, but increasingly children are seeing
reading as a chore. Books are associated with study. This is one of the biggest
obstacles for parents and teachers alike.
We encourage all our young learners to read EVERY day. Don't panic, children don't need to spend hours with their head in a book, after all most children don't have spare hours for reading - but they can still fall in love with reading!
How do you make a child fall in love with reading?
First we have to disconnect the activity from judgement.
That doesn’t mean that we don’t praise a child for reading, but we mustn’t
judge their ability or their enthusiasm.
Secondly, the child is the leader. Step back and let them take the reins. There will be times when it seems that they
will never develop joy or love of reading, but give them time without pressure
and you may be surprised.
I always suggest letting your child choose their reading material.
You can present books and topics to them, but don’t make them to read it. Also
don’t force them to finish a book if they have lost interest.
My eldest read, then stopped for a while and only read what
he was told to read for school. One day I noticed that he was re-reading books from
when he was younger. It reminded him of things and he really enjoyed just reliving
those memories. Yes, the books were way to simple, but he rekindled his love for
reading. I would never have thought to do that.
My youngest son was very different. He turned
his nose up at every book I suggested, I just couldn’t find any genre that
caught his imagination. One day he came across a book in our house, it had been
a gift for my eldest years before. He read this book and the whole series by the author.
You can never predict what your child will like. Present
them with lots of different books. Remember that easy is often more fun so don’t
push for the level to be challenging.
Here are a few book series which I have found useful:
Ladybird Reading Phonics
These are fun and simple books. They start with sentences
like ‘Ben has a buffalo in his bed.’ It isn’t particularly hard, but it is fun.
The sentences do help a child to develop a natural rhythm to their speech which
is really important. It is also good to extend beyond the book:
Child: Ben has a buffalo in his bed Parent: Really? Do you have a buffalo in your bed? Child: No, don’t be silly – I have a…..
These simple conversations make the book more interesting
and grow the child’s confidence. This is a 12 book series and introduces lots of fun words.
Some of my other favourites are the happy families selection.
Each book is a short story about different people in
different situations.
Here is the opening of one:
There was a once a beeman named Mr Buzz. Mr Buzz lived in a
cottage with his wife and children. They had a cow, a cat, two canaries, three
goldfish, five beehives
It is a great combination of easy words with new ones, like
canaries and bee-hives!
For children who are more interested in longer stories you
can always try some of the classics like Paddington.
