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Gifting your child with a love of reading is one of the greatest things a parent can do. Children who are reluctant to read, usually, through no fault of their own, are a struggle for parents. As parents, we all want our children to grow up to be smart and successful. We do our best to educate and prepare them to live the best life they possibly can.
Sometimes, however, even the best laid plans can go awry. Here are some ways you can gift your child with a love of reading.
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One of the biggest educational hurdles I see today are so many children graduating high school with poor reading skills. It’s not always the parents fault. It’s not always the teacher’s fault. Sometimes it goes beyond that. In this post I want to explore some of the more common problems for struggling readers.
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As a former first grade teacher and homeschooling mom, I’ve learned a thing or two when teaching literacy. I hope some of my experience and advice will help you find the information you need to empower your children to have strong reading skills.
An Avid Reader Is Born
Now before I go any farther, let me tell you a little about my personal love of reading. When I was four years old, my parents bought my grandparent’s home. It happened to be that our new house was directly across the street from a small branch of our local public library.
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Librarian Babysitter’s Club
I am blessed, and will be forever grateful that my mother and father are both avid readers, with a deep love and appreciation for books. My mother taught me to read when I was four. So, I’ve loved books for as long as I can remember.
At one point, before I was born, my mother worked at the library across the street. She had established strong friendships with her co-workers. After I learned to read, she would take me to the library nearly everyday.
As my reading skills grew, I became more reluctant to leave as quickly as Mom wanted to. Those sweet librarians offered to keep an eye on me until I was ready to go home. So, I spent many, many magical hours in the library, surrounded by stacks of books.
The gift of literacy and a love of reading is one of the greatest gifts my parents gave me. Through the years, if I wanted to learn a new skill, I turned to books. If I needed an escape, I turned to books. They have been my constant source of information, humor, comfort and companionship.
Tips To Develop A Love of Reading
While that’s my own personal experience, it most definitely is not the case for everyone. Not all children like to read. In fact, some children absolutely hate it, and nothing a parent can say seems to change their mindset.
Thankfully, it doesn’t have to stay that way. These tips may help take your child from reluctant reader to bookworm. At the very least, they can make reading far less intimidating. However, you’ll need to figure out the problem before you can find a solution.
Here are some common reasons that a child may not like to read.
Difficulty Learning to Read
Let’s look at the first possible problem. No one likes to struggle over and over with something. If your child’s not a strong reader, it may be a simple matter of putting them through a phonics based program to strengthen their reading skills.
I home-schooled my children for 10 years. We were diligent in our routine, and our children are very successful readers with a strong command of English. They were all taught to read using a phonics based program.
The curriculum I used is from Accelerated Christian Education. It’s called, “ABC’s With Ace and Christi.” This is a 12-15 week phonics program and is fantastically simple to use. The beauty of it is that you can teach it from home. Meaning, even though it’s created for Kindergarten, you can use it in the privacy of your own home, without causing unnecessary embarrassment to older children should they need it. I have personally seen Middle and High School age children who were told they had “reading disabilities,” take this program and become strong readers.
Dyslexia
Another possible reason your child hates to read, might be dyslexia. 70-80% of children in special education have dyslexia. Dyslexics use only the right side of the brain to process language, while non-dyslexics use three areas on the left side for language processing.
If your child was later than their peers when learning to talk, has difficulty learning new words or is seriously struggling with reading, they may have dyslexia. Thankfully, there are many specialized programs to help children with dyslexia. You can check with your child’s pediatrician or educator for testing and intervention.
Here is something else that may make reading easier for dyslexics.
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If you go to the product photos for the Dyslexia Reading Strips, you can watch a video that shows how they’re used. It’s also supposed to help children with ADD and ADHD.
Vision Problems
When one of my daughters was younger, she was a classic reluctant reader. I tried everything I could think of, but nothing seemed to promote any interest in books whatsoever. One day, she told me her “eyes were tired.” She didn’t have allergies and hadn’t lost any sleep, so I decided to make an appointment with our optometrist.
During her exam, I found out that she had a condition called, “convergence insufficiency.” That meant that she had weak eye muscles. While she was reading, unknown to her, one of her eyes would start to cross, hence the reason for her “tired eyes.”
Eye Exercises To The Rescue
Happily, it was an easy fix with some simple eye exercises. Once she recovered, I was in for a real shock. She started devouring books. It honestly took me totally by surprise. Apparently, it had just been exhausting for her to try and read before her vision was corrected. After she recovered, she went from despising books to being a bookworm. Now she loves to read as much as her mother!
This Brock String training tool can help your child recover from convergence insufficiency.
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Hyperactivity
This next issue is a little tricky. Hyperactive children, or children with A.D.D. or A.D.H.D., are typically not great at any past time that requires sitting still. Some parents choose to have their child on medication if the problem is severe. While I’m very opposed to medication of this type, because of the side effects, I also realize that sometimes, like it or not, it’s necessary. I’m a doTERRA Wellness Advocate, and I have found essential oils to be a powerful alternative to traditional medication. If you have a hyperactive child, I strongly encourage you to at least give them a try. Here is one of many possible recipes to use.
Mix together the following:
- 5 Drops Ylang Ylang
- 6 Drops Lavendar
- 2 Drops Roman Chamomile
Pour into a diffuser or small glass spray bottle with 1/4 cup of water to mist into the air where your child is reading or studying. This is also a good blend to diffuse by their bed at night time.
Other oils to try are, InTune, Melissa, Serenity, Calmer, Thinker, Cedarwood, Blue Tansy, Magnolia, Myrrh, Juniper Berry, Yarrow, Anchor and Green Mandarin. Keep in mind that essential oils, are like medication. What works for one person may not work for someone else. Try different combinations to find the perfect one for your child. See my website for ordering information.
Below is a picture I just had to share of our daughter.
This is our youngest daughter, Madison, at our library. She was around nine years old. She fell in love with this Mary Poppins book, and wanted her picture made with it! (Yes, she now has her own identical copy. 😊 ) You can get the same one by clicking here, or at the link below.
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“You Want Me To Read What?!”
Last, but definitely not least, is the type of reading material that they are reading. This area can get a little touchy. As parents, we want our children to be smart. That doesn’t necessarily mean reading literature, poetry and self help books. I know that some will disagree with me on this, but remember, the goal is to establish a LOVE of reading. When my oldest daughter started reading, she devoured the great literature classics. She also read the dictionary nearly cover to cover. (Her siblings still tease her about it.) She just naturally has a deep love of books. That’s just who she is. I didn’t demand she read those types of books, she just loved them.
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On the flip side, when my son started reading, all he wanted were comic books or books about insects. You know what? I gave him all of the comic books he wanted. Because I let him read what appealed to him from the beginning, he developed a deep love of reading. Now his favorite books are classic literature, biographies and informational books. (See, there’s a method to my madness!🧐)
If you can establish a love of reading with your child, then age and maturity will take care of the type of reading they enjoy. The important thing is for them to read. Reading is the key that will unlock their dreams!
You’re Never Too Old for Bedtime Stories
Here’s one last piece of advice. Start reading to your children when they are small. It not only helps in their development, but it’s also a great way to build a lifelong bond between parent and child. Also, you can try and establish a daily reading time for the whole family. I personally know of many families who had great success with this. They would choose either a book series or a stand alone book that the whole family would enjoy. Each night, someone read a designated number of chapters aloud, while the rest of the family listens. Sometimes it helps if a child is read to, then they can see just how entertaining a book can be.
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I hope these suggestions help you gift your child with a love of reading. Literacy it one of the most precious gifts you can give to your children. Books can teach empathy, kindness, critical thinking and social skills. Books can educate and inform. They can, through the great minds of others, teach them to think for themselves, broaden their horizons and also realize that no dream is out of reach. If you want to give your child a gift that’s truly priceless and timeless, then teach them to love reading.
