Do you still encourage your children to read?

I am not a parent, but I do work with children, and I think it is very important to read to them. Not just so they grow up to enjoy reading, but to icrease their vocabulary and make them better learners. I love it when a child asks me to read them a book, and I am often offering to read books to children. Reading to children right from the start is crucial in their development.

I don't encourage or instill outright. What I do is make reading together a special time for me and my children, and I let them see that I enjoy reading and do so for fun often. I explain that information can be found in books. I hope that being raised in a reading household they will see and understand the importance of reading.

Yes I always encourage my kids to read and always have...I'm a big reader myself and always have been so its a big thing for me and IMO its very important to get your kids to read frequently whether its fantasy book or something educational...

My oldest daughter (almost 14) always saw me reading and wanted to be like me. She got hooked on Goosebumps and then moved to the Mary-Kate and Ashley series and continues to ask for certain books. However, you said that you notice less children reading. My teenager says that it is not cool so she is a closet reader. She reads a lot at home but doesn't want some kids at school to know. I think the kids that are very, very avid readers are the smart nerds and she just doesn't want to be put in that category (especially since she's not overly intelligent - she's smart, just not a braniac). So it could be why you don't physically see kids reading so much these days. My 10 year old is a different story. She really hasn't been able to get into reading. I insist she read for 15 minutes every night before she goes to sleep but occasionally I find her "reading" teen magazines or the like. She has not found the kinds of stories that interest her. A few years ago it was "Arthur" and "Franklin", now she prefers "Bailey School Kids" and stupid joke books. I find it weird that she hasn't grasped the interest, but then I guess she takes after her father.

I try to encourage my niece to. Doesn't always work but I try to. Some things she'll read without a problem but other things she will give us this look like we are nuts. So I try to encourage her where possible but it isn't always easy. She's 12 so at that age she's in-between a lot of the books as well, too old for some and too young for others.

yes you still have to instill to your children that they must learn how to love reading. its the best way for them to learn on their own. and they will learn words that others do not know. Reading will help them with their mental development.

on the other way around for i am not a parent, i'm still a student, i remember that my grandmother and my relatives always persuade me to read books for it can help me in the future but of course, me being so lazy about it, can't have time for the books for i am such a potato couch that even the numbers in the remote control are gone nowhere due to my constant tv watching! Our generation today speaks more about technology and yes, it is natural for the children to be more active in other things rather than to read a book. children won't understand the importance of the book until he/she reaches his age of maturity wherein he will need a lot of knowledge that can only be seen in the books and not nowhere or even the internet can provide for still, book is so different to the internet. Books are the only reliable thing that you can count on in times of need.