My mom has always been an avid reader. Ever since I can remember, there has been a book on her nightstand from Jane Austen to Tom Clancy. It is a wonder to me, how I could be such the total opposite, but then I remembered my dad has never been a reader. In all truth, I think the only book he has read in the past 20 years has been a 1965 Plymouth Valiant Car Manual – a true man at heart!
Growing up it was always a fight to get my reading hours in. My log was full of fibs on how long and what I had read – thank god for my loving grandmother helping me out with these schemes (helping…may be not). I struggled through middle and high school reading requirements as I could never read fast enough and was never disciplined enough to do all of the actual reading. I relied heavily on cliff notes and synopses from my friends. It wasn’t until I read The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, that I started to understand the love of reading. I think I have now read that book cover to cover about ten times. After college I joined the workforce, and somehow immediately caught on to the “reading frenzy” that I saw my mom experience since I was a child. I learned that, even though I am an extremely slow reader, I do truly enjoy reading. I think it was a combination of finding the right book and not having the pressure of completing it in a certain time frame.
Reflecting upon this in the past few weeks, I have started to wonder how I can help my future son be an early reader. His dad is definitely a good reader, I actually think he should have been an English teacher, with his love of literature and grammar. One thought is to read to him often, and as he grows, encourage him to be the reader/narrator for me. I also think that once he is old enough, I want to set a nightly reading time, where he can just read by himself. My only problem with that is, I know I would be totally antsy being in one spot reading…maybe the remedy would be for him to read in a quiet communal place in the house! 🙂
What have been some ways you have encouraged your kids to read or that have made them avid readers at a young age?
Le Top blog 
At my daughter’s school they have a program where they send 4 books home each week for the kids to read. At the end of the week you turn them in and get 4 more. We read them every night before bed and sometimes during the day. She gets to put stickers on a poster every time we read a book. I’m hoping this will translate to her wanting to read in the future. I think that if you see your parents read regularly you are more apt to pick it up. We learn more from what our parents do than from what they say.
I love children’s books and started a collection even before my kids were born. Once my little ones could sit up in my lap we had reading time. Even at that early age, I think they got used to looking at pictures — and of course, all children love to hear the sound of their parent’s voices! Plus, reading aloud gives parents a chance to “ham it up” a bit… reading with some drama and emotion makes the stories come alive!
I was not a good reader growing up so before my children were born I promised to do everything possible to make reading fun for them. I read to them almost every night or morning whichever worked and when they were old enough to read on their own I let them select books on subjects they enjoyed.