Hope your child does well in school, gets good grades and test scores, is accepted to a college, advances in his or her career and is a good citizen? If so,
instill a love of reading in your child. Scores of studies cite reading as the key to academic success and three-quarters of parents choose it as the most important for a child to develop. That's why two reports (Scholastic's
Kids & Family Reading Report and the National Endowment for the Art's “
To Read or Not To Read”) released just this week should make educators and parents alike shudder.
Only one in four kids read for fun every day and 22% rarely, if ever, read. That reading for pleasure decline starts at age eight, continues in a steady downward spiral, and never picks up again. Less than one-third of 13-year-olds read daily. The percentage of 17-year-olds who read nothing for pleasure has doubled in 20 years. It should come as little surprise that their reading scores have steadily declined during those 20 years. So why aren't kids reading these days? Their top reasons for not reading: “Too busy,” “No time,” or just plain “Too tired.”
The kid reading crisis is real, the impact is astronomical and parents are aware there is a problem: 82% of parents wish their kids would read more for fun, but don't know ways to get them hooked on words. Here are 9 ways to start up a reading renaissance and cure this crisis:
1. Get a good resource. Both parents and kids say the big part of the problem is trouble finding enjoyable books. Here are three great treasuries that list kid favorites:
The New Read-aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease,
How to Get Your Child to Love Reading by Esme Raji Codell,
Best Books for Kids Who (Think They) Hate to Read by Laura Backes. No more excuses!
2. Think outside the book. The trick is matching your child's reading level and interests to the material. So ease your kid in. Think cereal boxes, cartoons, the sports page, baseball cards, the Internet, magazines. Consider those new graphic comic book novels, print out movie reviews or cut out articles on NASCAR. The literary merit is trivial. Getting your kid to feel comfortable with reading is what matters.
3. Carve out reading time. Kids say the biggest reason they don't read for fun is there isn't enough time. So find just a few minutes a day. Eliminating one TV show or item from your kid's crammed schedule frees up 30 minutes a week. Putting books in kids' backpacks, bathrooms, cars or kitchen are handy for lulls. Setting aside 10 minutes at the same time creates a nightly routine for everyone to read. But if you don't designate that time it will get lost in the shuffle.
4. Create a reading-rich home. The more books you have in your home, the greater the chance your kid will become a reader (as well as obtain higher math, science, civics and history scores). So dig out that library card. Attend book fairs at your child's school. Go to library sales. Get your child a subscription to a magazine. You don't have to break the bank, but do have reading material constantly available.
5. Start a book club. Tweens admit they worry popular kids won't like them if they read, so help them buck that peer pressure by joining moms of your child's friends and read together.
The Mother-Daughter Book Club, by Shireen Dodson and
The Kids' Book Club Book by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp help you start up a club and find the right books.
6. Become movie critics. Read a book then watch the movie based on it.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,
Because of Winn-Dixie, or
The Princess Bride are just a few possibilities. Kids love to be movie critics and debate if the book or movie was better. You can also listen to a book on tape during those long car rides and then read the real deal.
7. Don't stop reading out loud. Kids stop reading for fun around age 8, which is also the age most parents stop reading to their kids. Well don't stop! Start a book night (your kids get to choose) and read out loud-or take turns reading paragraphs. But keep reading out loud.
8. Check that required reading list. Dig through the bottom of your teen's backpack for that required school reading list. Then get two copies of each requirement: one for you and the other for your kid. You can each read alone, but do discuss
Charlotte's Web,
To Kill a Mockingbird or
The Diary of a Young Girl together.
9. Be a role model. Studies prove that kids who see their parents read are more likely to read themselves. Let your kids know you value reading and let them see you read and read often. Read from Oprah's book list, join a book club, carry a book with you at all times or get your friends, neighbors or town reading. Over 150 American cities and towns are now involved in
The Big Read. Just read! (And read and read).
If you are at all concerned that your child is struggling with reading, please don't wait. Talk to his or her teacher ASAP (and if that doesn't help, keep going until you find the help you need).
J.K. Rowling proved that kids do read and love doing so when given the right book. Nearly three out of four kids ages 11 to 13 have read at least one volume of Rowling's
Harry Potter. But it certainly didn't hurt that parents and kids read the series together. The more kids read, the more comfortable they become about the printed page and the more likely they will adopt reading as a lifelong habit.
So what are you and your kids reading this summer?
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Dr. Michele Borba is the author of over 22 books including
Building Moral Intelligence: The Seven Essentail Virtues That Teach Kids to Do the Right Thing.