Do you have a child that doesn’t like to read? I did too! It was a shock to see our oldest daughter growing up into a late reader, and worse one that didn’t like to read. She is now 12 and I have learned something that I wish I had a long time ago!
The moment is everything! My child is a very hands on child, she likes to build and create and is not a passive child. Sitting still is not something she has ever enjoyed and seems to be against her very nature. All these years we tried program after program spent night after night reading to and with her and nothing seemed to click for her, nothing until a few months ago that is.
My little social butterfly was having issues with friends who had been jealous about a boy liking my daughter. They decided to go around saying some hateful and untrue things about her, telling others she is a lesbian, as if #1 that is a bad thing and #2 as if it where true. It just isn’t but these girls know that my daughters Aunt is a Lesbian and will be getting married soon. My daughter tried to use her social skills to navigate the situation. She turned to those adults in her life she trusts and still she felt lost in it all. So I pulled out our e-reader and got her some books on the topic and gave it to her. To my shock she spent the whole night reading and came up with a plan of action. Her plan did not work right away but soon things changed and her friends where sorry and now things are better than ever and my daughter is reading and enjoying it better than ever.
What did I miss before? Timing! Timing is everything. While we have such a wide variety of books in the house it was not often that I would pull one out to fit a situation. With a hands on child this is key! They live in the moment and want to be able to DO something, so the book needs to help them do something right then. Not in the future and not in their minds.
So now I am quick to find kindle books to fit the moment for my daughter. It is such a great change to see. I should have known this years ago. Maybe this experience will help you! With this in mind, my blog supported by a few other great blogs are giving away a Kindle Touch! You can follow the link to the giveaway. I am celebrating with the help of other blogs 3,000 fans on my facebook page for this blog. I hope to give away a Kindle Fire when we hit 5k fan! So come by and say hello!
My best tip would be a tie between 1)don’t sweat the small stuff. they WILL learn to read, write, sleep in their own bed, etc, whatever it is, in their own timing, they will and forcing it sooner won’t make it happen sooner.
2)spend as much time with ’em as possible. No one ever got old and said “Gee, I really should’ve spent LESS time with Little Johnny.” Rather, all we ever hear people say is how they wished they’d have spent more time with their kids. It’s a long life stage, but just a stage that like everything else, will pass.
I think that love to read is not something that we can teach, rather something that we encourage. I don’t know if it is the same with other children, but from my experience, my niece that have a tutor as a nanny, love to read even from the young age, that is because her nanny encourage her to read by buying her a lot of books, and she even teach her to be a multilingual and teach her to read in other language.
Personally, I think you don’t have to be worried about that, coz everyone love literature, It is just their time to realize it differ.
I read to my kids every day. We give our kids open access to books and encourage them to look at the pictures and make their own stories if they cannot read or read well.
Thank you so much for sharing that!
I think learning to pick your battles is important. I have to tell myself this often!
I think there are 3 key points to help you kids have a love of reading:
1. Read with them. They will associate reading with the quality time they have with you. One time when I was a kid I got a shot in my butt at the doctors. Afterwards my mom and I read “Are You My Mother” to comfort me. I still love that book after all these years.
2. Read in front of your children. With a busy life I have developed the bad habit of standing at the kitchen counter while eating when the rest of the family was at the table. I had a meeting to go to and was in a hurry. After I left my 3 year old insisted on eating dessert standing up. When my wife asked why, he responded he was being Dad!
3. Read fun stuff! Know your kids. Read and share books they will like. Books that are exciting, that tell a fantastic story that is fun to talk about. Me and my son will sometimes parallel read a book and then talk about it afterwards.
There all sorts of other things you can try, but the important thing is that you do try and reading will become a fundamental source of enjoyment in your home.
Pick your battles. In the long run does it really matter if your daughter wants to wear mismatched socks and a dinosaur costume to the grocery store? Probably not. Focus on guiding the things that matter.
My best parenting tip? Teach love – always and in everything you say and do. Don’t be the person from whom your child learns how to hate.
My best parenting tip is to be patient – I was always good in reading and thought my kids would automatically be terrific readers. My oldest son really struggles and I’ve had to learn through him that we all have our different strengths and weaknesses. He is excellent in science, whereas I always struggled in that subject. Take time to get to know your kids as individuals!
My best tip is patient and to teach your child the beauty of exploration – discovering the world, travel, and new cultures.
I think bringing them to the bookstore to get some book that they love would be the best solution. Of course the book should be age-appropriate.
my tip would be to pick your battles. you dont want to constantly say no.
My tip is to think long-term, not just today and the moment you are in, but how the decisions you make as a parent are going to have long-term consequences. If you allow your 5-year-old to be disrespectful and roll his eyes, then don’t be surprised when he’s your teenage son and he does the same thing and thinks nothing of it.
Julieanne
http://www.JoyInOurJourney.com
julestwin (at) gmail (dot) com
Be an example. Read in front of your kids!
I’m not a mom but I am a great aunt. I found that being nice to little kids always helps them feel loved.
Luna Broderick
Read to your children. Make it a daily part of life. They will grow to love it and look forward to it everyday, which will hopefully help them develop an interest in reading themselves.
My Son will be 22 next month… I learned and was reminded, many times, that so many things may ‘bother’ us that really aren’t worth the effort to fuss about. Let it slide. Just breathe. Live life and cherish EVERY moment you have.
I have to spend a lot of time at Dr. offices so having a Kindle would really come in handy to pass the wait time.
ubrewme@yahoo.com
I love blogs because they give me a chance to meet and interact with people that I wouldn’t be able to otherwise. I love their stories and pictures. Some even give me a chance to own things I normally couldn’t afford.
I have 3 children…2 grown, they are now 28, 25, and 11. For my youngest, he didn’t seem at all interested in learning to read for quite a while. It kind of broke my heart because I am an avid reader and have been since I was about 10 or so.
Neither of my parents liked to read but my grandmother did as she was also an avid reader so she was my source of encouragement. For my 11 year old, one of the things I told him was that reading was the most important skill of all, way above anything else one can learn because if you know how to read well, you can learn everything about any topic by reading about it. I made sure also that we took the time every night to read a book of his choice.
Also, I know it may sound a touch odd but…I found that putting the captions on the TV when he was watching something he enjoyed helped him learn quickly. He would of course hear the word and then see it visually. After that his reading ability multiplied. He is now reading at a grade 10 level and is only in grade 5, going on 6.
I think it is important to help children find their own outlet – a constructive way to express themselves.
Great article, thanks for sharing!!
Get a good nights sleep. Lol
My tip is to show kids that reading is fun and it helps you use your imagination!
Read to them early and often.
walk away and breathe when u reach your breaking point.
I think bringing them to the bookstore to get some book that they love
I am not a parent, although I wish I was one. I used to tutor kids in reading, math and science when I was in high school (20+ years ago). I made the lessons fun. The assignment I gave them was followed by a hands-on learning experience. If it was reading, we turned the assignment into a play. If it was science, we made posters about what was learned. If it was math, I would give them real-world story problems to go along with what they learned. I was pretty successful. My tutoring continued through college where I helped others with math, science and nursing. I miss those times!
Long story short, know what your child is learning in school and supplement their material with fun hands-on activities like I described above. Most people learn by doing, not by listening. Practice makes perfect.
The biggest thing is to read with your child and let them see that you enjoy it…also, let your child see you reading by yourself. When I sit down to read a book, my 10 year old son grabs a book as well and sits on the couch with me 🙂
give your children memories and traditions to pass along.
My kids had set bedtimes, BUT at that time, they were allowed to go into bed with their reading light and read as long as they wanted – but no getting up for water, food, etc. My kids are grown now and are avid readers. Kids NEVER want to go to bed, so give them something they can do instead of that, and they’ll jump at the chance.
keep a schedule and always say i love you.
I think it is important to lead by example. The more a child can see a parent reading and enjoying it hopefully it will influence them to do the same.
patience is the key
Let your kids help in the kitchen. It’s messier, but worth it.
It won’t kill them to cry for a bit so you can leave the room and calm down for a bit.
1) Start early. Read stories to your kid as soon as they’re born.
2) Don’t overdo it. Stop when they get bored and try again tomorrow.
dont say someting without following thru.
I’ve learned that as long as there is love in what you’re doing, children generally turn out fine
One thing I learned to not do is punish out of anger. Tell them to go to their room while you figure out what their punishment is. My kids tell me that is scarier than me just blurting out the first thing that came to my mind. I now try to punish according to the reason for being punished. They learn that the reason they are being punished is because of what they did and not how angry mommy or daddy is.
whatever you do your kids will repeat.
My tip is to not push them. I think that pushing them too hard to read or with anything else, will cause them to not to want to do it.
Avoid power struggles at all cost
dont argue with them.your the boss.
Take a day off with your child and go out and do something enjoyable.
Start early! With reading and with anything and everything-start the learning early on. Makes it so much easier down the road.
always give your best no one is perfect.
enjoy every moment they grow up fast.
Sometimes kids need you to not try and fix every little problem they come to you with, but to be supportive while they figure it out on their own.
I think we need to teach our children and grand-children kindness. I am beginning to think it is a lost art.
tnrinaatgmaildotcom
I suppose the best tip I have is to read to them early, and often. My husband started reading to my daughter everyday when she was still in utero. The more you read, the more they’ll enjoy it – my daughter brings books to us all the time now. We are excited for her to get to the age where we can actually start teaching her to read herself!
Make book available/accessible to them at all times!
My tip is to not worry so much. Kids pick up ion that worry and become worried that they aren’t ok. I encourage parents to read to their kids and also to let your kids see you read.
Each child will get where they need to be at their own pace- stop comparing them.
Best advice is to teach by example a love of reading, if your child sees you reading all the time they’ll want to do the same.
Trust your instincts and find motivation. Put down the phone, ipad, video games, computers, tv and all other things and just listen to the silence. Create a routine like reading for bedtime and let your kids guide you! When they follow their interests, they learn at lightning speed.
read to your children everyday from womb until forever.
To try to instill the joy of reading in kids at the earliest age. Let them see you read-everything…even the backs of cereal boxes. DOn’t make reading a chore…Take your kids to the library at a very young age…our libraries are an amazing resource to us.
Stay patient and remember to laugh daily 🙂
let kids see you reading as well as reading to them every day.
My kids are really loving my Nook with the books that read to them.