Newsletter – Enhance – March 4, 2022

If your kids don’t like to read—and they’re skilled readers, you can actually change their minds about reading!
1. Frame reading time like it’s a joy, not something kids HAVE to do. The words we choose are powerful at conveying messages and, too often well-meaning parents unknowingly make reading sound dreadful.
2. Have cozy spots for everyone to enjoy their books, together. Providing pillows and throw blankets adds to the fun. Create a hushed, snuggly space. (If teachers can get 28 first graders to get seated, silent, and settled— you can do it too.)
3. Never set a timer to get assigned reading done. Timers take attention off of the reading and onto the timer.
4. You read your books while your kids are reading theirs. Be on hand to help (with tricky words, word meanings, encouragement, etc.), as needed. After a while, to end your family reading time, tell kids, “When you get to a good stopping place, come tell me something interesting about what you’ve read, and then you can do something else that’s fun.” As a classroom teacher, I’d often allow kids to continue their reading in the hallway if they just had to keep reading. Treat reading like the magic it is.
5. Resist bribing your kids to read. That bribing makes reading seem like a task one must endure to get something good.
6. Don’t assign reading logs. Though some readers actually like keeping a book log to remind them of the books they’ve read and how well they liked each one, tracking minutes and having a parent sign off on them makes the reading feel like work.
7. Allow extra minutes at bedtime, before turning lights out, when your kids are reading.
8. Talk about the books you’re reading with your kids and ask about the books they’re reading too, but make it conversational—not like a quiz.
9. Visit the library and/or bookstore often. Ask for recommendations from the adults in the kids’ section.
10. Give your kids bookstore gift cards for special occasions. While at the bookstore, do your best to make it a trip your child wants to repeat. Hot cocoa at the café, reading some picture books together, and going out to lunch afterwards makes the gift a treasured experience. Don’t worry if they’re not thrilled with the gift when they first receive it. They will be thrilled the NEXT time!
11. Support your kids’ schools by attending Book Fairs. Who doesn’t love a school book fair? If your kids are attracted to the more toy-like items, kindly remind them that we can get great toys at toy stores. At book fairs, we buy books.
12. Let kids choose books they’re interested in. Understand that some books carry some social clout and allow for that. Encourage them to investigate both fiction and nonfiction books.
13. Remember that picture books are not necessarily easier to read than chapter books. In picture books, authors are limited to very few words to convey their messages, so they often use more robust vocabulary—which is great! But it may be difficult for beginning readers to decode the words and understand their meanings. Whereas many children’s chapter books are written with beginning readers in mind, and they use more familiar, easily decodable words. Chapter books are often a lot cheaper for the volume of entertainment they provide, and they are long enough to create the habit of reading whereas picture books are finished in one sitting, and there’s no pull to continue reading.
14. Refrain from requiring kids to choose books “at their level.” Try saying, “I’m happy to get that book for you, but it might require that I help you with it. Does that sound good to you?” We know from the research that struggling with difficult texts is exactly what kids need to grow their skills. And there is no denying that desire inspires lots of kids to successfully navigate books that are beyond what some educators call “just right.”
15. If the words on the page are too hard for your kids to decode, offer to read the book to them while you deliberately work on building their phonics skills and language comprehension.