Reading is fun…

 

Reading is big in our house.

I like to think my children get it from me but Daddy reads a lot too…when he doesn’t drift off to sleep instead.

When I was younger I would read through the night.

I would read while walking to and from school.

 I would read during class when I should have been listening (Not something I condone).

I would read instead of doing my homework (I know, total rebel).

So imagine my excitement when it was time to teach the Little Professor how to read!

He learned quickly and easily and was reading books well beyond his age level until one day he decided he didn’t like reading anymore.

When I would try to encourage him to read he would act like I was asking him to watch paint dry.

There were a lot of eye rolls, heavy sighs and even a few screams of “noooooooo”!

I realized that even though he could read beyond his age, he couldn’t quite comprehend the actions of the character because he couldn’t relate.  The subject just wasn’t interesting him.

I made it my mission to find him books he’d read.  We tried all kinds and a lot of them were fails, but then we stumbled upon Flat Stanley books.  He liked them so we went with them for a while but eventually the Professor was bored with them.

With a little more searching we stumbled across graphic novels of his favourite super hero’s.  He enjoyed those also and still does, but they lacked the experience of a true novel that I wanted him to get a love for.  So we continued on with our search.

Then we came across the Andrew Lost series and they did the trick.  He fell in love with them instantly but he now finishes a full book in about an hour.  It turns out he’s a fast reader…that he definitely does get from me.

So now he’s almost done with the series and we’ll be on the hunt again.  We’re thinking of trying the How to Train a Dragon series next.  He’s excited!

I realized the key to getting a child to love reading is to let them read what they enjoy.  That sounds simple enough but the tricky part is finding that key book. I don’t believe there are any children who don’t like to read, I just think they haven’t found the right book yet.  Keep hunting.  The book is out there.  Eventually they’ll want to read and they’ll come to you for more books.

I am now going through the whole process with the Princess.  She’s still learning to read and doing really well. We’re taking it slow, keeping it fun, she’s loving it.  She already has a couple book series picked out that she wants to read but for now we need to master Dr. Suess.

In the meantime, I’m going to read her Little Women.  I have fond memories of my own mum reading that story to me.

We come from a long line of book lovers!

Even the Milk Monkey likes to sneak books at bedtime!