“I wish
my daughter would enjoy reading,” the woman told me a bit wistfully, “She just
likes TV and her video games.”
Frankly
I was a little shocked. The lady, making
polite conversation had asked my daughter, a budding reader, if she liked to
read books. This was her response to an
enthusiastic “Yes”. I wasn’t sure how to
respond, as reading is just a way of life for us.
Since
that short conversation months ago, it has often returned to my mind. I have often wondered how it is that my kids
enjoy reading so much when it seems that fewer and fewer children voluntarily
pick up a book. After much pondering I
have realized that there are certain things that we do which have facilitated our
children’s love of books. And so, for
the first part of a three part series on reading, “How our children came to
love reading”:
We
checked a book out of the library once entitled, “The Library” by Sarah Stewart
and David Small. It is a story about a
young girl who enjoys reading to the exclusion of pretty much everything
else. Eventually she acquires so many
books that they overwhelm her house. It
was an instant favorite in our family as we all have shelves that are overflowing
with books. Both my parents and my
husband’s parents place a high value on books and reading, and that has carried
over to our family as well.
Many
literacy experts have suggested that in order for children to become willing
readers, they must see their parents read, both out loud to the children and to
themselves for enjoyment. Both my
husband’s sisters keep a log of books they read each year, and this is
something I am doing now as well, both for myself and for my children. Having a heavy cold earlier this month sure
got my list off to a good start!
One of the best things we have done
is to give our children free access to books.
Shortly after our oldest child was born my aunt gave us a box of books
she had gleaned from her bookshelves.
They were duplicates or books that her kids had outgrown. Some were already slightly damaged or missing
covers, so I had no qualms about letting my daughter look through them. We kept the books in a box under her crib,
pulling it out in the mornings for easier access. From the time she was mobile she would crawl
into the box to look at the pictures in the books. We have also gathered quite a collection of
board books for our littlest readers – some we have replaced after each child
because they have worn out.
Giving
our kids access to books led very naturally to the next step, reading
aloud. Of course if you look at the
pictures in a book, you have some desire to know what kind of story the
pictures tell. My husband and I enjoyed
rediscovering books we had enjoyed as kids – and both grandmothers happily
obliged by lending us books from their shelves – as well as finding new
favorites. It has been really fun to get
the whole family involved with our reading, from Mom reading during the school
day to Grandpa and Pop-pop sharing their favorites on their weekly lunchtime
visits and Dad reading aloud when he has time in the evening. Our current list includes Uncle Wiggly’s
Story Book, Old Mother West Wind, Treasure Island and the Hobbit.
We try
to visit the library when we can to supplement the books we have at home. We always visit the children’s section when
we go, but we have enjoyed exploring some books from the adult section as
well. Cookbooks with lots of pictures
are a favorite at our house; sometimes with yummy results!
After
our daughter learned to read, it wasn’t long before she was devouring books on
her own, a confirmed reader in her own right.
She still enjoys it when we read aloud, but she also spends a good chunk
of her free time reading to herself. Her
younger brother is now the one who clears the book shelf browsing through the
picture books of an afternoon.
So
there you have it. The process of
getting our children to read has been rather organic, growing from things that
we naturally do. This is not to say that
we spend all our time reading. While
some families may feel it is better to banish TV and computer time altogether or
to severely limit it in favor of books, we have never felt the need to place
strict limitations. One movie a day or a
little time on the computer is plenty without being overly strict. And it still leaves plenty of time to read.
Stay tuned for posts on some of our favorite
books and where to find good books cheap in the next few weeks.
