I remember being 5 months pregnant and searching for secondhand children’s books off Facebook marketplace. I even drove 30+ minutes for 60 books for $60. Such a steal!
The books were Dr. Seuss, Llama Llama, and Disney collection books. All too advance for my soon-to-be newborn.
“She’ll quickly grow into them,” I’d convince myself as I kept scrolling Facebook marketplace for more deals on books.
My daughter is now close to being 2 years old, and I will in fact say, she has yet to grow into them.
As an avid reader myself, I knew I wanted to raise my daughter to love to read and encourage reading habits. But how do you even do that?
I scratched my head so many times pondering that question.
As a first time mom, we honestly need to wing it. I had very limited support with raising my daughter and no one around me understood, and even to this day, understands why I choose to raise my daughter the way I do.
But I promise you, there’s a method to my so-called madness.
Raising children who have a love for reading is not easy. It takes work. But it is doable. And you are also capable of instilling a love for reading into your child.
Introduction
So how do you raise a child that loves to read? How do I force my child to read?
The answer is, you don’t.
Children, at whatever age, are already their own person, developing their own personality as young as three months of age. But to your advantage, children are also very impressionable.
The best and clearest example of this is when you’re eating something. Something you know they do not like. But because you are eating it, suddenly, that is the thing they want the most.
This is how strong your influence is over them.
You need to use that to your advantage in a positive way.
Therefore, if you’re not an avid reader, I’m sorry to say, but you may just have no choice but to become one.
10 Tips to Help Children Develop a Love for Reading
The pictures above are all candid photos of my daughter. I find her “reading” books often throughout the day.
The 10 tips on how to get your child to fall in love with reading are those that I have been following with my daughter and used when I worked on a literacy nonprofit with 3rd graders.
I will list the 10 tips to raise a child who loves to read and will then go more in-depth on each item.
- Start young
- Display books around your house
- Limit screen time
- Buy books around your child’s interests
- Schedule regular trips to the bookstore/library
- Read out loud, even if they aren’t paying attention to you
- Model good reading habits
- Never discourage what they’re reading or when they want to read
- Use positive language around reading/books
- Begin implementing bedtime stories
1. Start young
Okay, let me explain. This doesn’t mean start as soon as they are out of your womb. Nope. Preferably, start before they are 8 years old.
Why is 8 years old the magic number?
When kids are around ages 4-6, they are learning to read. Pretty obvious, huh.
But what happens after that? Kids begin reading to learn. They begin reading to comprehend. This is when schools start standardized testing, around 3rd grade.
(Side note: Kids that don’t know how to read fluently by 3rd grade will begin falling behind in school, all to way until highschool, so we need to prepare children before 3rd grade to learn to read. Period. Once they learn to read, then we can begin the process of getting your child to develop a love for reading.)
This is also the time when kids can begin disliking school, with the pressure to excel and be great at reading comprehension aka in standardized tests. This is when you begin to have kids who hate to read.
By starting young and having a strong foundation on reading, your child can begin comprehending what they are reading at a slightly younger age and begin to love to read, without societal pressures.
2. Display books around your house.
By displaying books around your house and having them easily accessible, your child may be more inclined to reach for them, so long as you don’t let the books become part of the clutter. (Been there, done that.)
This bookcase below is a favorite in our household! Big thank you to my sister for getting this for us!
We opted for this bookcase for our little one because it displays the book’s front page.
There’s a reason why bookstores like Barnes and Noble display their books as well. They are trying to make the books more appealing, so you are inclined to grab one.
Use that same marketing tactic on your child at home.
3. Limit screen time
I feel like this is something many parents don’t like hearing. And if you feel offended when someone is offering you this advice, then I believe it’s all the more reason you need to hear it. Sorry! I don’t make the rules.
So why should you limit screen time?
According to a study, “those who had spent four or more hours with screens were 4.78 times more likely to have underdeveloped communication skills, 1.74 times more likely to have subpar fine motor skills and two times more likely to have underdeveloped personal and social skills by age 2.” (Source)
If that is not enough reason to limit screen time, Dr. John Hutton, associate professor of general and community pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, explains, “Longer term, one of the real goals is for kids just to be able to sit quietly in their own thoughts. When they’re allowed to be a little bit bored for a second, they get a little uncomfortable, but then they’re like, ‘OK, I want to make myself more comfortable.’ And that’s how creativity happens.” (Source)
By allowing your child to be bored through less screen time and more time to themselves, children are able to think creatively. They do this by looking around and seeing what they can do now.
This is makes having the bookcase above oh so perfect. Because once they are bored, they look around to see what they can do, and then they encounter books being on display waiting for them.
This is my guaranteed way of getting my daughter to grab books to read.
4. Buy books around your child’s interests
Buy some generic classic books for your child and then start catering to their interests as they get older.
This is the method I used for my daughter. I bought the book First 100 Words and other basic “first” books as an infant that have grown with her now as an almost 2 year old. She now opens these books and can name multiple items from each page.
Now as she has developed interests, I buy her books about different animals, because that’s what she likes to look at.
And then you continue this pattern as they get older. Read more on this on Tip #5.
5. Schedule regular trips to the bookstore/library
At least once every two weeks we go to either Barnes and Noble or our public library.
The library is a perfect way to get your child to try out different types of books before committing to purchasing them at a bookstore.
Also, if you have toddlers, libraries have storytime and toys they can play with.
In our case, I understand my little ball of energy will not sit in a library table to read when there are kids playing with “new” toys a couple feet away.
For this reason, I make regular trips to the library so my daughter can get familiarized with the place and know that it’s a fun place to visit. We play with new friends, new toys, and we get to browse through the books.
I consider it a win if we can get through one board book in the 1-2 hours we’re there. A small win is still a win nonetheless.
6. Read out loud, even if they aren’t paying attention to you
Hold on, let me rephrase it, “read out loud, even if you THINK they aren’t paying attention to you.”
I cannot tell you the amount of times I have started to read a book with my toddler and within one minute, she gets up and starts playing.
Sometimes I put the book aside and play with her, but other times, specially when she was younger, I’d continue reading the book. And many times, she’d eventually come back to see what I was talking about.
Kids are curious. Keep reading to keep them curious on what’s in the book. 9 times out of 10, they’ll come back to take a peek.
7. Model good reading habits
Yes, this means for you, mom, to put your phone down. Reading your Facebook feed or Tiktok captions don’t count as good reading habits. Grab a chapter book and get to reading!
But!
If your child is like mine and doesn’t let you read your own chapter book, you can grab one of their books and start turning the pages.
If you really want to sell it to them, then I recommend reading out loud, aka Tip #6 above.
8. Never discourage what they’re reading or when they want to read
Whether they are reading Dogman or Captain Underpants, what matters is that they are reading.
A win is a win.
Your goal is to get them to read, and you’d be surprised how comic books like Dogman can challenge children.
As a former 3rd grade teacher myself, I vividly remember my 3rd graders fighting to read Dogman and other comic books. I never undertood it, but it got them to read during Reading Time.
I’d even let them choose 1st grade level books. Because the goal was to read, and if they were reading 3 words per page, it didn’t matter, because at the end of the day, they were reading.
9. Use positive language around reading/books
“You’re such a nerd!”
We’ve all heard words such of these. Whether in person or on TV.
The world constantly puts those who choose to do “boring” things down.
I believe this is another reason why kids eventually begin disliking books and reading.
“It’s boring!” “I’m not a nerd.” These are things they could learn in school, so do your best to not bring those words into the house.
You are your child’s first and greatest teacher. Continue to model good reading habits as explained in Tip #7 to help encourage your child to keep on reading, and that “reading is cool!” (Just don’t tell your child that, unless you are prepared to hear them say that you yourself are not cool.)
10. Begin implementing bedtime stories
Bedtime stories are not something that you can only have with young children. These can be with kids of all ages. I can assure you that older kids will want that quality time, even if they choose not to express it.
Add a bedtime story to your nighttime routine for the added benefit of spending quality time with your child, as well as encouraging your child to love reading.
Conclusion
Children are naturally curious. They naturally want to learn. They want to know more.
What better gift to give them than the love for reading to help them continue their creativity and their growing knowledge and skills.
I’d love to know if you have implemented any of these tips with your kids to help them develop a love for reading! Comment below if you think I missed anything or if you have any other questions I can answer!
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