Kids and Reading

My daughter is not at reading age yet. I like to read a lot and she enjoys being read to. I really hope she'll start picking up more of it. I've tried teaching her letters and sounds some, but I don't think I'm a very good teacher. I'm just going to keep trying and hope eventually she begins to catch on. She likes to look at picture books and tell me what's happening in them. I guess that's good. She's only three. There's just so much else for kids to do these days, parents seem more worried about keeping them entertained and out of the way. I don't mind the games and tv, but they spend way too much time with it.

I do agree parents don't push their children anymore to do much. Video games and tv are used as babysitters. I have 3 children. My oldest does not like to read at all, we have pushed him, and pushed him but he just does not like to do it. Me or my husband has always read to him at night. We moved and the new school that they went to somehow something/someone in that school motivated him greatly. Now he is reading to me. So I think it also has something to do with the education, not only parents. Now that it is summer vacation, I have them do certain chores if they want to watch tv or play a video game or anything. My son was cleaning our dining room so he could earn computer time. I told him to put the books that were on the floor away, and this coming from the boy that hated to read a year ago actually sat down forgot what he was supposed to do and read 3 books. He sat there for about 45 minutes. I believe yes it is mainly the parents need to push the child a little, but also has to do with teachers pushing the kids some.

I think it's MOST important that kids learn the joy of reading from an early age. With my own kids, as well as the grandkids, a storybook at bedtime (or other quiet times in the day) was a ritual. Even when they were too little to read, it fosters a sense of the importance of books. Even though my little grandson loves his computer games, he still will shut it off if we volunteer to read a story to him. He's starting his own book collection of things he loves to have read to him, and those he wants to learn how to read himself. I've always told him that reading is one of the most important things you can learn, because then you can be whatever you want to be in life, and you can visit every country in the world from your cozy easy chair lol. I think too it's important for kids to see their parents and elders reading, because they learn good habits from it and develop an interest in reading themselves.

Oh my goodness! I agree 110 percent! I have two kids and they'd rather watch tv or play video games rather than read. I keep encouraging them but today's technology always beats me out. I think media or technology is partly to be blamed. Why? Best explanation, for example the Harry Potter series is a very good set of books. 7 thick ones with big letters and a few pictures. It's a good read for children. It's fantasy, magic, and all the items that makes it a good read, what happens? It's turned into a movie, so children (and adults too) who haven't had the chance to read it would rather go and see the movie rather than spend time reading. What I do to encourage reading is I try to read my kids a bedtime story or two some nights and I'm like this one woman team where I act out or make different voices for the passages I'm reading. It makes them laugh and enables them to enjoy the stories while they get a little reading punched in. I know its not much but for now, I think that's the best I can do ^_^

hi chelsit, you have started a fine discussion. most of us those who have kids see that our children are not much interested in reading. i agree with the opinion of friends here that technology plays some role in determining this habit. i myself is a lover of books and till now i am so. i do not want to offend anybody, but if we ask ourselves honestly what is our favourite pastime? one friend here rightly said that charity begins at home. in many cases, kids are not to be pushed if we follow what we want them to do i.e. we read books. if the child sees that my elders in the family are taking interest in reading they will try to follow them. once they start if we continue to provide interesting reading materials (not the ones full of dry knowledge) many of them will grow a habit of reading which is the best hobby in my opinion. things like tv, computers, internet, games are also needed but reading should be the top priority. happy mylotting

i have my own share of worries too about my kids, 12 and 8 years old respectively. Though they open their school books in the night but i see nothing serious with what they are doing, they do work on their homework which in most cases i gave all the answers and after that their eyes are glued into the pc monitor till they feel the urge to sleep and to think that after class they directly open the pc soon as they arrive home and shut it off around 11pm. Just don't know how to change their habit in relation to it.

I think your post has both the question and the answer to it! when I was a kid in the 70s, there was no TV in India. Then came TV but no cable and entertainment channels…all we had were the state-run channels with boring programmes. So reading was much more fun than watching graying people debate on the future of the nation! Library was the favourite period of the week, library books were finished in two to three day’s time, getting books for birthdays were the ultimate gift and new books at the beginning of the school session, were read and over even before school started properly. I still have many of those books at home, my mom kept them in the hope that her grandchildren would one day read them. But no such thing…children are so lazy these days. Its much easier for them to just slouch on the couch and watch cartoons or log on to the PC and play games. Yes, we parents are to blame too…most of us are so stressed out these days managing home, office and children that we just leave our kids to be themselves, as long as there is peace in the house…so if my son keeps quiet and watches TV, so be it for my few hours of peace…I don’t want to start up a storm at the end of a very tiring day by forcing him to take up his library book.

I think that you have answered your own question in a nut shell really; parents no longer push their kids. I remember I used to love reading too. I can still remember bringing home my spelling homework and how me and my Mum used to sit there and work on it. She would sit with a cup half filled with frozen peas and for each word I spelt right, I would get a frozen pea. I used to love them. This was encouraging. Whether I liked spelling or not, the reward would make it so much more attractive. I think that parents are under more pressure these days. They can't live up to the standards set by our parents because both parents now work full time and the working life is a much more stressful one. Before the change in the economical climate, we were obsessed with having more, investing in property and having what we wanted when we wanted. I guess that our priorities have now changed. I have so many aspirations for when I become a parent. I will hope to be everything that my parents were and were not. I will take the good things and then add new things that looking back, would have benefited my upbringing.

My daughter is 17 months now, and she loves to read books. I read to her all the time. She brings me books and crawls up on my lap and we read. It excites me that she is so into books, and playing. She doesn't really like cartoons, or television. She has her spurts when she wants to watch t.v. but she would rather curl up with one of her pop up books, or go outside and play. Its so nice to have such an active child. I think parents should encourage their children to read more.

I don't think it's too fair to make a blanket statement! Yes, I agree there is not as much reading suggested and pushed by parents; but I know a lot of kids who do still read. Plus, even though they are not reading books as much there are tons of magazines and game coder books and things like that they are reading too! Then we must also consider some of the facebook and other interent activities as "reading." I will hold that a lot of their reading especially texting and facebook and such are much less on the literary scales! However, they are reading, writing and using words to communicate!

I think some children just aren't encouraged to read. Others might find it a tedious task, as they'd rather be doing something "cool," such as playing video games or watching TV shows. While both of those things are okay in moderation, I can't imagine having had a childhood without literature. It wasn't really forced on me by my parents, but it was something I enjoyed. I just had to open up my imagination. I've found that kids these days tend to like reading limited materials, though stuff like age-appropriate manga has its benefits. It gets kids interested in reading while looking at images and understanding what is going on. It's more engaging that just plain words on paper, but it's not always as "childish" as picture books. I think kids just need some prompting. They have to understand that not everything out there is boring, and that they just need to find something to read that suits their tastes.

Reading is one of the things I live for. As an avid reader I was dissapointed to "birth" 4 total non-readers. They are now teenagers and will not open a book to save their life. Now I have a wonderful little girl who is 2 years old an already a book lover. One of her first words was "read". Her father and both read so we are instilling in her a love of the written word, we are at the library and I look for little affordable books for her everytime we go to the mall. She will read it all, from the pennysaver to a magazine, you name it she sits down and puts it in her lap and will point out things she knows. I am very proud of her for this and am very thankful that she has found a love in books. As for her sisters I tried believe me I did but to no avail. Now I can only hope that when they become mothers they can undertand the importance of reading and will hopefully help their children to enjoy it too.