How To Raise A Reader
Books and reading play a huge role in my life. I grew up in a house without a television set but with piles of JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) and Reader’s Digest lying around. Growing up without a TV was a non-issue especially since I had my grandma’s garden and the Child Craft Series in their house to keep me occupied. It was only when I started going to school and heard my classmates dissect the latest adventure of a talking car that I felt something was amiss. But by that time, I was already head over heels with the written word.
Now that I think about it, I don’t think I was really doing much reading, if you base it on the common definition of the word. At five, the most I could decode or pronounce were consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words like cat, dog and egg and some sight words. But I could spend an hour with a book, just looking at pictures, thumbing the pages and if someone happens to pass by, I’d open and close my mouth, pretending that I’m already a master at silent reading. It came as no surprise that I’ve always managed to highlight the value of books and reading in my work- as an early childhood educator, a librarian, ESL teacher and homeschooling parent.
I'm going to share with you how I did it. I’m going to show you the 3 simple things that I consistently did to make a child comfortable with books and reading.
1. Let your child see you read.
Get into the habit of reading, if you’re not into it yet. There are countless materials out there. Short stories, novels, self-help, magazines, recipes, graphic novels. Find one that can get you on the reading train. Let your child see you read and not being grumpy about it. As a general rule, children will always do what you do more than do what you tell them to.
2. Read aloud to your child.
It doesn’t matter if your child is still a baby, toddler or even in pre-k. Read aloud to your child now. You don’t have to finish the whole book. Just talk about the pictures you see. Things can get messy or squirmy at first. Just soldier on and keep at it. The more frequent you read, the more comfortable both of you will become. When your child experiences the pleasure of being read to consistently, he will learn to see the activity as something good, enjoyable even. Also, when you read aloud, you are showing your child how reading is done, that the things he sees on the page stand for something.
3. Choose the books you will share with your child.
Know what excites him. Is it cars, dinosaurs, bunnies? Start with what he likes.
Then build a small collection of picture books around it, about 5 is a good number to start. The goal here is to get your child comfortable (again, that word) with the experience of handling books and you reading aloud. Start by looking at the pictures together, pointing them out, and saying what they are. Then you can proceed to phrases, then catchy sentences until your child’s attention can sustain the length of the entire story.
So there you have it! Three simple things that you can do to raise a reader now. Wishing you luck!
