| Encouraging your child to read a wide variety of books | | | | to insist.Fiction v. Non-fiction:Your child may not be a |
| is probably the best education you can give them - but | | | | fiction lover, but don't despair! Reading any well-written |
| sometimes it seems an uphill struggle! We have put | | | | book is an achievement - and you can get a lot of |
| together a collection of tips and tricks to encourage | | | | good information and practice off the back of a cereal |
| reading which may give you some ideas that will | | | | packet in the mornings! There are some wonderful |
| appeal to your kids and will fit into your family's | | | | children's encyclopaedias available now, and various |
| routines.Library Day:If you live near to a good library, | | | | magazines for kids available by subscription which |
| you could designate one day of the week | | | | they will be really excited to receive each month in the |
| "Library Day". In any event, try to visit | | | | post. The library will have shelves stocked with |
| regularly and spend time browsing through the books | | | | non-fiction for them to sample, and they may well end |
| with your kids. Getting your kids their own library cards | | | | up being a fount of useful knowledge!Reading |
| can be a huge incentive - and many libraries run | | | | Time:Older kids can enjoy having a set "Reading |
| special programs to encourage kids to take out | | | | Time" when everybody in the family - no |
| books.Read With Your Child:Younger children like | | | | exceptions - finds a comfortable place on a favorite |
| nothing better than to snuggle up with their parents to | | | | chair or sofa and reads. Put some background music |
| share reading time. You could try reading a page each | | | | on if you like, refuse to answer the phone and drop all |
| - it helps to keep the pace up and make the story | | | | chores for the duration!Keep A Record:Sometimes |
| more interesting for your child, especially if they are | | | | keeping a record can make reading more fun - for all |
| struggling a little. You can also practice putting lots of | | | | ages. You could buy each child a special notebook in |
| expression into your reading: if your child learns to do | | | | which to record all the books they have read, and any |
| this too, it will help their understanding (and of course | | | | thoughts they have on them. Encourage them to set |
| prove useful when reading out loud at school!)Read To | | | | up a rating system and share it with their friends! |
| Your Child:Even adults like to be read to sometimes - | | | | Young kids enjoy getting a sticker on a chart when |
| so try not to grow out of the habit of reading to your | | | | they have finished a book.Another lovely idea is to |
| kids! Obviously it helps when the kids are similar ages | | | | create a "caterpillar" by cutting out colorful |
| and have similar interests, but with a bit of | | | | circles of paper. Decorate one to look like a cheerful |
| perseverance you should be able to find something | | | | caterpillar's face and then add circles for his body, one |
| which you can read to all ages and enjoy! If not, split | | | | by one, each time your child finishes a book, writing the |
| the reading up into age-groups, or perhaps ask an | | | | name of the book on the circle if you wish. You could |
| older sibling to read to a younger one | | | | have different colored circles for each member of the |
| occasionally.Listen To Audio Books Too:These days it | | | | family if you like (and if your kids can cope with the |
| is easy to get hold of audio books for some of the | | | | competition).One mother I know kept a notebook |
| best children's stories - either through your library or | | | | record of every book her son ever read, including the |
| bookshops online and offline. You can also download | | | | date started and finished, and a mark for |
| audio books through iTunes or Audible for instant | | | | "enjoyment factor". After a while she |
| gratification, to be listened to either through an iPod or | | | | started to stick in a small image for each book, taken |
| burned onto a CD. A good audio book can be enjoyed | | | | off the internet, and her son (now a teenager) loves |
| by all the family, whatever their ages, and can make a | | | | looking through his record and remembering his |
| long car journey hugely enjoyable. Why not set up a | | | | favorite stories.Provide Bookmarks:Reading can be |
| club with friends so that you can swap and share to | | | | made much more fun for kids by simple providing an |
| keep costs down?Provide A Good Selection:Just | | | | appropriate bookmark! When they are young, try to |
| because a story was your favorite as a child, it is not | | | | find something on the same theme as the book |
| necessarily going to be your child's favorite too. Times | | | | (perhaps you could find some images on the internet |
| have moved on and there is a huge selection of | | | | to print off and laminate).As the kids get older |
| children's literature easily available now. Let your kids | | | | bookmarks can be more creative. Get the kids to help |
| dip into all kinds of stories and non-fiction to find what | | | | you make some one rainy day with scraps of card |
| interests them. If you want them to love reading, you | | | | and ribbon, use some of their artwork, cut up old |
| have to give them choice in what they read.Finishing | | | | greeting cards and postcards, make collages from |
| Books:As adults we are not prepared to finish every | | | | magazines, or use photographs of family and friends. |
| book we begin - some are just plain dreary and we | | | | Older kids can leave a message on the back of a |
| don't have enough interest in them to see it through to | | | | bookmark and leave it in a favorite book for a |
| the end. Your child is the same. My kids were | | | | younger sibling to find when they read the book later. |
| expected to finish every reading book they took out at | | | | Perhaps the older child could write a little about the |
| school before they were given the next, and frankly | | | | book and why they enjoyed it, and put the date they |
| sometimes even I felt like jumping off the top of a tall | | | | finished it too. What a lovely surprise to find a few |
| building rather than read to the end! I'm not saying you | | | | years later!Lindsay Small is the creator and editor of |
| should let them off finishing every single book, but if | | | | Activity Village - providing the ultimate one-stop |
| they are really not enjoying their current book, consider | | | | resource for parents and teachers looking to educate |
| whether the writing and story are really good enough | | | | and entertain their kids. |