How to get a child to love to read.
By eyeswideshut
@eyeswideshut (108)
United States
January 6, 2007 1:39am CST
I have a 13-year-old nephew who hates to read. He is good at it, extremely literate, comprehends well and has no problems that would keep him from enjoying a good read; however, his vocabulary is lacking, as his imagination and attention to detail which reflects in his school work. I know he would find what he needs to improve these skills by reading books. How can I get him to discover the joys of reading, if only a little?
5 responses
@shoelover (896)
• Australia
6 Jan 07
There are some wonderful books out there for children. Take him to a library and he will see for himself. Even if he starts out with joke books or something. There are the goosebump series of books which kids love also. Your librarian would be the best person to ask.
@MamaMiaNC (40)
• United States
7 Jan 07
Another great avenue is to find story times within the community library. Being with other same aged children, listening to stories and have the imagination ignite is a great way to foster the love of reading and finding topics that excite them! I can not stress enough to read to your child from day one..and encourage them to "read" you a story just by looking at the pictures. Love of reading is an early learned skill and can be enhanced more than we even realize by simply teaching by example. You read aloud to your children, show them that YOU are reading too!! And encourage them to find the topics that interest them the most to find information on topics that excites them!!
@doingit4fun (917)
• United States
7 Jan 07
Pick a book series which you think he would like and read to him. Ask him to read a page to you while you read one to him or he reads one book and you read one.
The point is when he likes the story he would like to read by himself. My 6 years old loved the Amelia Badelia, diaper baby My 8 years old liked Ghost stories and they could not wait to get to the library to get the new book.
Try reading to him it will work.
@eyeswideshut (108)
• United States
7 Jan 07
Like I said before, he is 13. He does not want me to give him a hug before school let alone read him a bed time story. His mom read to him every night from the bible when she was alive, and they read many books together. Usually a chapter a night. He just never seemed to enjoy it much.
@pedumfio (667)
• Canada
7 Jan 07
My daughter is a very good reader and shes only 6, but she hates to read ause she says it's boring. She is very much into computers,animals,planets,stars and so on so we try to get her books and or even magazines with her interests and it is working awsome. The latest thing she is reading is a dictionary cause i told her when she finnishes the dictionary we will have a compitition to see which one of us knows more meanings if I win she has to read whatever i want for a week and have no computer,games,tv,etc. If she wins I have to let her do whatever she wants for a weekend.
@Desertbird (323)
• United States
6 Jan 07
Find a book you know he will like. If he likes Nascar, I'm sure there's a fiction book out there about a driver, or if he likes camping, there are loads of books in that area. There's pretty much books on everything these days. Giving him a book to read just for the sake of reading wont promote interest, but if you offer a book that they can like and relate to, then it becomes more fun than work. I remember when I was younger I didn't like to read, but once I hit 12 I had found a good series that I liked, which made me read more from that author, then more from that section, and so on. By the time I was 15, I was reading so much that I was often grounded from doing it because my mother didn't think it was healthy to be "addicted" to books lol.
@eyeswideshut (108)
• United States
6 Jan 07
Good story! I can't imagine being grounded for loving to read. Honestly, I would much rather see him addicted to reading than video games. I'm not sure I'll ever see him addicted to books, but it sure would be nice to see him reading a little more. He likes football. I think I'll take a look over on Amazon and see if they have any fiction about that.
@msgrits (7)
• United States
6 Jan 07
Well I have a few ideas. Are there things he enjoys? Hobbies. Even video games have books written about them. Did his family read to him as a child? Maybe that has something to do with it. I wonder if you guy him some real boy books, if that makes sense, to read if that would help.
@eyeswideshut (108)
• United States
6 Jan 07
His mom used to read to him from the bible every night, I remember her reading Harry Potter and C.S. Lewis books to him. I think it has to do with the fact that he is an extremely social creature. He really can't take the inititive to do things alone. I was thinking if he found a good book, we could settle together in the livingroom and read. Maybe he just needs to be close to someone when he does it. I wonder how he would do with a book club?
