How to Get Your Kids to Read

It occurs to me that I might have found the secret formula for getting kids to read. While the media and teachers complain that kids don't read anymore, I can't get my kids to stop. Even Lucia, who is too young to read, is a voracious reader. I jokingly yell at Eve (age 12), "How many times do I have to tell you to STOP reading!" She would read while walking and eating if we would let her. And not only is Maya (age 27) a published romance novelist, but she's about to get her master's degree in literary history, and has read the works of Proust...all of them.

So what's the secret?

1. Be a reading role model. Thanks to mirror neurons in the human brain, our kids will mimic whatever we do. So if we spend a lot of time reading, they will spend a lot of time reading. It doesn't matter whether it's People magazine, romance novels, or literary fiction--the act of reading in front of our kids makes them want to read. So if you want your kids to read, read in front of them. Read newspapers, magazines, books, and cereal boxes.

2. Buy books like candy. When we go food shopping, we always end up in the book and magazine aisle (in fact, that is our "home base" if anyone gets lost). It's our "reward" for completing our chore. Everyone gets to buy a book or a magazine, and I don't judge too harshly what anyone picks. For the little one, it keeps her occupied during the checkout process. If Eve can't find a good book since she has read all of them already, I let her buy those teen celebrity magazines--after all, we are in the magazine business, and I want to encourage future magazine readers! But a fresh, new book is just as exciting as a candy bar, is much better for you, and lasts a hell of a lot longer.

3. Indulge their pleasures. My husband isn't a big reader--unless it comes to sports stuff. It's not my cup of tea, but if that's what gets him reading, then I'm all for it. Eve has read the whole Twilight series--I think about nine times. That's OK with me. Lucia likes Thomas the Tank Engine, even though she's a girl. But she also loves the Disney Princesses. The great thing about books is that there is something for everyone, and for every pleasure. Anytime people use book preferences to pass moral judgment, I get angry...the whole idea that certain books are good and others are bad--or that people should only read "literary" books--is what gives reading a bad name all together.

4. Read aloud. Lou has always read to Eve before bed--they've done Narnia and The Hobbit--and he has ultimate patience reading to Lucia, over and over. My favorite read-aloud story is from a time when Eve came down with pneumonia. One of my favorite books growing up was the Little House on the Prairie series. I was devastated that Maya never wanted to read them, and Eve was showing no desire to read them either. So, while she was captive in bed, I read Eve the first book out loud. Not only was it fun for me--I had forgotten how funny and interesting the story was--but Eve was hooked, too. By the time she went back to school, she had read the whole series. Recently, on a long car trip, I read aloud some of the diary of Alexander von Humboldt's journey to South America in the early 1800s. It was utterly remarkable how modern his voice sounded, and how fascinating his insights were. I knew no one else would ever read it on their own, but by reading it aloud to a captive audience, I got to share a little bit of my pleasure with them.

5. Make them come alive. We have been to Louisa May Alcott's house in Concord, Massachusetts, twice, and have swum in Walden Pond. Next summer we are visiting the Laura Ingalls Wilder homestead museum in Iowa. I've dragged my whole family to Lady Murasaki's 1,000-year-old home on a backstreet in Kyoto, Japan, to see the Tale of Genji world she created in the first novel ever written. Maya and I and a dear friend of mine went on a trip to England and visited some of our favorite sites from Regency romance novels. If there is a movie or documentary about a writer, or a favorite book, we watch it, and probably much to the annoyance of my family, I talk about it. (I tried to force my kids to watch the Botany of Desire documentary on PBS, but only Lucia stayed awake for the whole thing). We visit historical sites that we have read about (for Lou, that involves sports stadiums--thankfully, he has other friends he takes with him). Reading makes the world come alive in your head in a whole new way. Anytime that can be reinforced with real-life experience, it's a great thing.

6. Have reading parties in bed. Speaking of great things--I love to read in bed. I get cranky when my kids want to stay up and all I want to do is go to bed and read. So I came up with the idea of having reading parties in bed. They love it. We all get in our pajamas and brush our teeth and then meet in my big bed to read until we can't keep our eyes open anymore. Then, it's a much easier process to get them from my bed into theirs without a fuss. We don't do it every night, so it keeps it special, but we do it at least once a week, and I have never, ever, heard either of them say they didn't want to come to a reading party in my bed -- but sorry, only my girls are invited!

For more from Maria Rodale, go to www.mariasfarmcountrykitchen.com.

 

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Comments

[ForObamaInDallas]

Great post! I miss reading myself. I wanted to add this:

If your children say they don't like to read, ask them why. If they say it hurts they may need glasses and not realize it.

[BlueZoo]

I give books like candy, particularly to children. It's not original but in every book, I write the following:

"I've known kings and pirates of the sea
Because I had a Mother who read to me!"

'Nuff said!

[scoobs316]

Great article and so true. My father read to me as a child and I can't help but think it helped me become a reader and a good student. When I had my first son I stocked the house with all kinds of books and started reading to him as an infant. He is now 5.5 and taught himself to read already. My next son is 3.5 - I read to them every day. Well, now my 3rd child, my little princess, just turned 1. While I didn't have as much one on one time with her - she is already "reading". From watching her brothers look at books, and seeing me read to them she knows exactly what a book is. She pulls them off the shelf and pages through them. When I read with her, she turns the pages, lifts the flaps, feels the touch/feel pages, etc.
As a mom of three kids, I don't get much time to read on my own but I still try. As parents we make many choices and have a great influence on our children. It's so easy to blame society and media and blah blah blah. It's about making good choices and setting your priorities. And I love the part of your article about buying books like candy -- I buy so many books for my kids!!! I'd rather go spend $50 on books than on a Nintendo DS game or the like.

[debt equals slavery]

I have spent the last 20 years working with "at-risk" students in a continuation school. Most arrive never having read a book. We have had great success simply because we allow them to choose what they read. (And, no, 17 year olds with vocabularies of 400-600 words do not choose to read classics.) However, they do learn to love reading and that's our goal.

Students who stay with us for several years start demanding that I get new books ("good books!") because they have gone through what we have at school. In the beginning, there weren't many books aimed at our clientele but that has changed. We make them feel safe about trying new books but telling them that if they start a book and don't like it after the first chapter, they can return it and try another. My favorite explanation is: "...it's just a book...you're not getting married to it!". It only takes a couple of kids to read a book and decide it's good. They endorse it to new students.

The one thing that this requires is money. Paperbacks that get read often eventually fall apart. We are lucky to have a principal who supports us and squeezes money out of the budget for purchases. And, like most teachers, we pay for many of them ourselves. It's worth it.

[Maya68]

Yay for reading! I'm an omnivorous, gluttonous reader and trying to transition to writer too! Our kids love reading, hopefully from watching us two. I'm trying to expand their choices .. but as long as they reach for a book I'm happy! I must try reading out to them, it's been years since we've done that. I feel sad for those who don't read or say they don't like to read ...what a lot they miss :(

[Waynely]

Interested in Almanzo Wilder? Go to:
http://www.americanpopularculture.com/archive/bestsellers/almanzo.htm