10 Tips for Raising Readers
Here is a list of tips every parent can use to provide the right conditions for young readers to blossom as they grow up. The nice thing about the suggestions on this list is that you don’t have to have a degree in reading or child development to follow them. You just have to want your child to read.
- Let your child see how important reading is by doing it yourself. Have plenty of reading material around.
- Read to your child every day. This is one of the most important pre-literacy activities we can do with our children.
- Make library visits a regular routine. Don’t wait for your child to go to school before introducing her to your local library.
- Books on tape can help pass the time on long road trips. Libraries often have a good selection.
- Make reading a family pleasure. Set aside time as a family to read for fun. Make a bedtime story part of your day-end ritual.
- Give books as gifts. Suggest that grandparents and other relatives do the same.
- Arrange your home to encourage reading. Make sure you have comfortable places to cuddle together with a book.
- Help your child become an author. Make a book by inviting your child to tell a story about anything he wants while you write it down. Let him illustrate the story by drawing, pasting in photographs, or cutting out pictures from magazines.
- Select other media products that promote reading. Choose entertaining computer programs that incorporate reading skills and problem solving. Look for video rentals that include a book component.
- As children get older, read longer chapter books and poetry to your children. Reading longer books chapter by chapter helps develop a child’s listening comprehension skills. Your child actually builds her imagination while forming pictures in her mind for the developing story.
Reading is essential to learning and a source of lifetime enjoyment as well. And although there is a great deal of emphasis on teaching reading in schools, the basic building blocks are put in place long before our children ever enter the classroom. Do your children a favor: use some of these tips to prepare them for a lifetime of learning and fun through reading.
