Instilling a Love of Reading at Home

Reading enjoyment begins at home. Parents can be a powerful influence on ensuring their child has a lifelong love of reading.

Here are 10 easy steps to subtly reinforce the joy of reading:

• Set the example. Each time a child sees a parent, grandparent, or caregiver reading for pleasure, that child recognizes that reading is important.
• Set aside at least 15 minutes a day to read aloud with your child.
• When reading with a young child, use your index finger to “sweep” under the words. This trains the child’s eye to read in the proper left-to-right progression.
• Add to the enjoyment and excitement of a good story by using different voices for different characters.
• Pay attention to punctuation. With your voice, emphasize question marks and exclamation points at the end of sentences.
• Help your child find books about a favorite animal, interest, sport, etc. A subject of interest will spark a desire to read and learn more about it. Baseball cards, comic books, recipes, newspapers, magazines, and the like all offer alternative ways to practice reading.
• Co-read—take turns reading pages to each other. This will hold your child’s attention, especially with a book that might be longer than she usually reads.
• Ask questions that help predict outcomes, such as “What do you think will happen next?” Or, “If you could write a different ending for the story, what would it be?”
• Reduce distractions. Turn off the television and computer. Turn house and cell phones to silent when reading together.
• Have a family DEAR night—“Drop Everything and Read!”

By incorporating reading as part of your family routine, you can get your child hooked on the joy of reading!