In an article in the February issue of “Family Fun,” Alicia Potter explores some ideas about how parents can get their children to read. Here are some of her suggestions.
—–“Start a Family Book Talk”-One family in Arizona has a weekly family book discussion. The mom of the family says her two sons, ages 6 and 9, get excited about sharing books. The younger of the two children said that “Hearing what his brother, mom, and dad are reading makes me smarter.”
—-“Set a Reading Incentive”-A mother in upstate NY, began tracking the books her pre-K youngster was reading. She kept a notebook listing the book titles. The child, now 6 years of age, loved seeing the list growing longer. A younger sibling was inspired by his brother and now has become an avid reader. To keep the momentum going, the parents of these younger readers challenged their children to read 1,000 books. Their incentive would be that the parents would contribute one penny for every book read. The money would be donated to a an organization that encourages reading. The books chose their local library and accomplished their goal. Hearing about this challenge friends on Facebook added to the pot. In the end the books were able to contribute $230 to their local library.
There are several other ideas in the article that may interest parents. I’ll post the article on the children’s bulletin board.