Raising Readers
One of our goals as parents has been to raise children who read often, easily, and with enjoyment.
Our boys are not all reading on their own yet but I can confidently say that all three of them sincerely love books and love being read to. We’re off to a good start and I can’t wait to continue introducing them to some of the many, many fabulous books that fill our world!
Did you know that a love of books does not come naturally to every child? Out of our three boys only one of them had a natural love for books and would happily sit and enjoy them from the very beginning. Only one! The good news, however, is that listening to & enjoying books is a skill that can be taught. Here are a few tips about how we presented books for different ages, and what might help you to teach a love of reading.
Tips for Raising Readers
Ages 6 months to 1.5 yrs
SO the professionals all say to read to your babies from birth and in theory I completely agree. I’m sure it’s good for them and good for you and will help them on their path to becoming readers. However – don’t tell anyone – we didn’t read to any of our babies at birth. *Gasp!* All of them (except our eldest) probably overheard us reading to their older siblings but that was about it. And guess what, they all love books today! So don’t feel bad if you wait a couple months before starting their personal book journey. It will be okay! 😉
Babies and pre-toddlers first interact with books by touching, feeling, chewing, and perhaps recognizing a couple familiar objects in the pictures. We started with board books and let the babies hold them and turn the pages. You could read a short sentence off the page or point out a familiar picture – “Look, it’s a teddy bear just like you have!” – but little ones are not ready yet for story lines or long paragraphs. Some of them will immediately squirm and wiggle and fuss and try to get away (looking at you, Middle Brother and Little Brother!). We didn’t make them sit for long, but we also didn’t let them immediately get down. You can gently but firmly say, “No, we’re going to look at this book for just a little bit. Do you see the red car here?”
Ages 1 yr to 2.5 yrs
Somewhere in this time frame your child will hit the peak time for “labeling.” That is, they want to point to and identify (either by themselves, or have you do it) every. single. item. in the entire book. Quite honestly I dread this stage and can’t wait to get out of it! Stories are interesting and fun to read but watching your child point to every animal in the Big Book of Ten Million Animals That You’ll Never See In Your Backyard and telling them their names is not my idea of a good time. But… it’s just a phase, they all do it, they all get through it, and then on to bigger and better things! And I also know it’s important not to squelch this curiosity or stop reading time just because I personally am not enjoying it. This is a good time to have books with lots and lots of familiar household objects, vehicles, animals, etc. They love seeing pictures of things they know and recognize! Which includes themselves, by the way – our boys have LOVED flipping through photo books I’ve made where they can see themselves or Mommy or Daddy or Grandma. And yes, they will point to it and say “Daddy!” and you will have to say, “Yes, that’s Daddy” and then they will do it five billion more times until you’re ready to burn that stupid photo book in the hottest pit of hell… but it’s good for them and I guess we all make sacrifices because we love those little stinkers amIright?
Ages 2-3
Here’s where (in my mind) it starts to get fun! Sometime soon is when you will get through the worst of the labeling stage and your child will start to be able to actually follow a short story line. You will be able to read a paragraph, or maybe two! Hooray! The books will get more interesting and from there on out the world is open to you. Just one tip here – at these ages we will often condense or shorten the words on the page if it seems a bit too long for their attention span. For example, we started reading Robert McCloskey’s classic Blueberries for Sal to our boys right around age 2, but we didn’t always read every word on each page. Sometimes it might just be the first sentence – sometimes a bit more. But as they get older and their attention span grows, you can add more, and soon they will be able to sit for and understand even more than you expect. It’s pretty incredible to watch that journey!
More Ideas That Have Helped Us
Be Consistent! or, Keep Reading Even When It’s Hard. Ultimately, the main thing you need to do to raise readers is… drum roll… read to them! It might be hard at the beginning if they’re not a natural lover of books. It might be hard during the labeling stage if you get bored out of your mind. It might be hard when they latch onto a favorite book and want you to read it twenty times before lunch and another thirty times before nap. But we’ve found that consistency pays off and it WILL GET BETTER. If you remain consistent then your child’s attention span will grow and their vocabulary will increase and you will both start to reap the many benefits of reading.
Use Good Books! or, Not Every Book is Worth Reading. If you get a book and you don’t like it and your kid doesn’t like it, give it up and try another! There are SO many fabulous books out there that there’s no reason to waste time on one that neither of you likes. We personally like to find books with either beautiful artwork or beautiful language or fun poetry, or maybe all three! Granted, we do have some books in our house that I don’t particularly care for, but our boys love them and so we keep them.
Keep Books Available! or, Invest in Lots of Packaging Tape Cause They WILL Ruin Some and You’ll Have to Tape Them Up Again. Just having books in your house – whether yours or theirs – causes children to have more interest in and affinity to reading. Our children’s books are all on low shelves where the boys can easily reach them, read them, rip them, sit on them, and attempt to put them back.
Set the Example! or, Take a Little Time to Read Something Yourself. I believe that setting examples in our own lives of the goals we wish our children to accomplish is hugely important. Not only does it prevent us from looking & sounding like hypocrites, but just as reading is good for your children in so many ways, it is good for you too! And your kids will be encouraged to read more as they see you doing so.
As I write this, our boys are 6, 4, and 2. They all LOVE to be read to. Like, they would happily have me read to them for much longer than I am willing to sit and read (which is a long time). Big Brother is beginning to read well and will often pick out books on his own and curl up on the couch to read. We do a quiet “reading time” several times a week where they each get a pile of books and are expected to sit quietly for approximately 30 minutes and “read” through them on their own – and no one complains! (I am still shocked by this!)
Our boys have learned to love reading, and yours can too! I really believe that skill is completely worth every minute you spend working on it, and that we have only begun to reap the benefits. Here’s to raising readers!
First written May 8, 2019
