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My son loves reading. I mean, loves reading! He’ll forgo cartoons on a weekend morning to continue with a chapter book I made him put down the night before (because it was getting so late).
I have always read to my son, every day, from the time he was an infant curled up in my arms. Going to the library was a regular outing once he learned to walk. We hid from cold winter days in bookstores, and we spent summers parked down by the St. Lawrence River, trunk popped, picnicking and reading in the trunk of our SUV.
People are always asking me how they can get their child to enjoy books more. So, here are 5 ways to help your kid develop a true love for reading.
Track their progress, and reward it too.
We have a chart with tally marks on the side of our fridge where my son keeps track of the amount of chapter books he’s read. We started it with the lockdown in March 2020. He just passed 75 books. Anyone that sees the chart asks what it’s for, and my kiddo is always proud to tell them what it is.
If your child works well with a reward system, implement one. Maybe for every 10 or 25 books, they get a certain reward. The incentive could be the thing that gets them reading – the love for books they will develop will create a lifelong habit.
Make it a part of your family’s lifestyle.
There are certain times when we read, period. The TV is turned off, we get a cozy blanket, and we curl up on the couch and read, whether it’s the newspaper, a magazine, or a book.
For the most part, screens are not allowed “on the go”. We don’t bring them to friends’ houses, on shorter road trips, or to appointments – these are perfect opportunities to read.
Keep books handy everywhere.
Not only does my son have a fully stocked book shelf (that is well-organized, I might add, for easier retrieval), but we have books on the coffee table in the living room that I regularly rotate, we have books in the bathroom, and we keep books in the back flaps of the front seats in the car. That way, if my son is ever bored, he always has a book within sight.
Seek out reading material whenever and wherever you can.
My son has had three magazine subscriptions: Chickadee, Highlights, and National Geographic Kids. They are all super fun and engaging, and they regularly provide new, updated reading material for him. My husband and I also receive magazines.
We go to the library often. My son even has his own library card. We also love bookstores.
When we have a family activity planned, like a trip to a museum, we bring any titles we have that might be related: we have a kids’ book of art that we take to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, animal books for trips to zoos, and travel books for when we go on vacation. In December I even do a book advent calendar with Christmas and holiday titles – a new book to read every day!
Let them stay up late!
I once saw an interview with Billie Eilish and she said her parents would let she and her brother stay up late but only if they were creating music. I adopted the same idea but with reading: my son has a little booklight and is allowed to stay up later (within reason) as long as he’s reading in bed. It has fostered a love for chapter books as he continues with different titles each night and often carries through to the daytime where he is excited to pick up where he left off.
A full-time work-from-home mom, Jennifer Cox (our “Supermom in Training”) loves dabbling in healthy cooking, craft projects, family outings, and more, sharing with readers everything she knows about being an (almost) superhero mommy.
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