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All three of my girls love to read and they have for as long as I can remember.
When I’m talking to others about how much they love to read, I always tell the story of when my oldest was four years old. She was having a hard time being good at the grocery store, and after I had asked her to be good 5 times, things got serious.
I turned to her and told her I was going to take away her books for the rest of the day if she didn’t start acting better right away. It worked and she was a perfect angel for the rest of the time… but the look on the ladies face behind me as I said I was going to take away books was priceless! She looked shocked that I would take away books! Little did she know that my daughters books were her most treasured possessions and probably the only thing that would have actually gotten her attention! I know most parents take away toys, not me… I take away books!
It has made me so happy to see my oldest sharing her love of reading with my youngest!
I want to say that it just came natural for all of them to love to read, but I think there were a few things we did to help nurture it too. These are the five tips we used to teach our children the love of reading:
1. Start young. We were so lucky to be given a pile of books before our oldest was born and my husband started to read those books to her the day she came home from the hospital. She was a very fussy baby and reading books instantly calmed her down.
2. Focus on stories that they are interested in. My little one loves Princess’s so we have a ton of Princess books for her to read. Having books to choose from that you know will peak your child’s interest is a great way to foster a love of reading.
3. Read every day. Make it a tradition to read right before bed, or in the afternoon with a snack. We started with reading to our daughters when they were babies and as they got older we started letting them sound out words and help “read” to us. My older two LOVED the time we spent reading together and still talk about it.
4. Lead (read) by example. Let your children see you read! Talk about the books you have read, are reading, and the ones you hope to read in the future. Tell them why you love to read and why it’s important to you. I never feel like I have enough time to enjoy leisure reading, but I always find a few minutes a day to read so that the girls know it’s something I make time for.
5. Make books come to life for them. If you want to see an instant spark of fascination and love of reading, make books come to life by including your children in the story! We were sent an I See Me! book that was the story of a Princess that had the same name as my daughter, looked like her, and even lived in the same “castle”! Yep, it was my daughter in the book! Her picture was even sprinkled throughout the beautiful pages of the book! I think we’ve read it 100 times so far and it will be a keepsake for her for years to come.
They also have books for babies and books with pirate ships and cars! Along with books there are Lunchboxes / Puzzles /Co
These are really great tips. Most of my kiddos don’t mind reading, some love to read and 1 doesn’t really like to which is kind of sad but I keep trying ways to change that.
I love when the older kids are involved in helping the younger ones read too. It does a heart goo. 🙂
That is so sweet that she is reading to her younger sister. My daughters like to do that to. I think it makes the older sister feel important and it helps them both feel closer to each other.
We read as a family every night, the two youngest and I read before naps, and we have a weekly visit to the library for new books and story time. We also have a letter of the week and we’ve just introduced a word of the week. We grow bookworms. 🙂 LOL! I love it when the older siblings read to the younger ones… I don’t think there’s anything sweeter. <3
My son loves books, but doesn’t like reading them. Lol. I will be paying attention to this article
I think all parents should know this, with this generation where gadgets and entertainment are everywhere. Glad you open this one up.
Not many kids like to read. My daughter loves to read, but my son doesn’t.
I am a big fan of reading and spend a lot of my day with my nose in a book or staring at my kindle. My daughter has picked up this love for reading. My son on the other hand can’t seem to sit still long enough to enjoy half a book. It’s a work in progress I suppose!
Our son loves reading. He loves mythological and fantasy books. He’s now reading The Hobbit. Hubby got him The Hobbit and The Lord of Rings book set for his birthday.
Those are great tips. Reading is important in our family. We go to the library once a week
When I was a kid I remember my grandmother reading to me all the time. She would read te stories in a way that made them really fun to listen to. I’m trying to encourage a love for reading in my son as well!
I love personalized gifts from jewelry to books. I have gave my children these type of books and they loved seeing the family members names in the book.
I developed a love for reading when I was a child. Thankfully, my children and I share that same love since we’re all avid readers.
I so agree about focusing on what they love. My daughter was SUPER into fairy tales, so that’s what we picked a lot of at the library.
Love I See Me books! My daughter loves reading and she loved her personalized book!
These are awesome tips for teaching your children the love of reading. It is so important for children to read books and have fun doing it. My boys always loved reading and still do. Thanks for sharing.
These are awesome tips! My oldest son loves to read and I’ve always felt that it was a huge blessing. I’ll have to use some of these tips for my middle son… who hates reading. :/
This is such a great post on teaching kids to read! Thanks so much for sharing!