Encouraging Reading at Home

If your house is anything like mine, evenings are a rush of sports practices, homework, and maybe a few minutes to relax. My kids are asking for screen time or TV time, the dogs need a walk, the dishes need to be cleaned, and lunches need to be made. Sometimes, the last thing on our minds is reading. However, over the past year, reading has become a part of our family routine.

At first, reading time felt forced and the kids fought it. There were no screens, no TV, just twenty minutes of reading a book of their choice. The routine has now become natural. If I’m in the kitchen, I ask if they can read out loud to me. If my youngest needs to read, she may read to her siblings. Hearing and comprehending words builds a child’s fluency and literacy. Do we do this every day? No. We strive for three days a week and reading first on a Saturday or Sunday morning. With three kids, reading may happen in the car, at a football practice, or on a reading app.

While repetitive books can get frustrating to us as parents, a child reading the same book over and over is truly building fluency. If your child insists on reading the same book, great! Start asking them about the book to help their comprehension. If you’re anything like us reading books over and over, I’ve heard the plot of The Wiggle Family enough to ask a few questions!

If a child is interested in a book, let them read it. A magazine? Great. Graphic novel? Go for it. My boys will read about Minecraft. They read about their Fantasy Football players, Astros stats, sports predictions. My youngest is just beginning her reading journey in kindergarten, so she may read to me or we read together at night. I would like to say I do that with her every night, but that is not the reality! More often than not, she’s toting her kindergarten readers to a sports practice! The important thing in all of these examples is that they are reading, building fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary.

Want to make reading a part of family life? Here are some simple tips to help engage your family in reading.

First, model reading. When we put down our devices and engage with a book, we model that reading is for enjoyment and not just homework. My kids know that I always have a book in my purse!

Second, let them choose the book. Let your child choose their book from the local library, and make sure it’s something that interests them, even if it may seem that the book is too easy for them. Help them use the digital card catalogue to search topics that interest them.

Third, make reading time fun! Try reading with a flashlight, a cozy blanket. Reading outside or in the park. Reading in front of the fireplace or in a fort.

Fourth, set a time for reading. Sticking to a routine such as reading after dinner or before TV time for twenty minutes can create a comforting expectation of reading as family time, not a chore. Make a goal to try and read three nights a week.

Most importantly, make reading a fun part of your family, not a chore to be done. 

Written by Jeanna Bickerstaff