You asked. We answered!
This question comes from our archives…

Question:
How do I help my four-year-old son to develop a love of reading? He struggles to sound words out, and doesn’t seem to be interested in reading on his own. How can I help him learn to love reading?

Answer:
Books can be our best friends. But to struggling children, they can also be the enemy. Children are aware of our expectations, and they recognize our desire for them to read. To avoid disappointing us, children with reading issues may just push books aside for activities that don’t require so much effort.

Strong reading skills are the foundation for learning, so they are a critical skill to develop early on. Luckily, an aversion to reading at a young age can easily be overcome.

Sometimes different approaches are the solution to getting reluctant readers to embrace books and reading. Our Little Readers program is developed to help children as young as three learn to become strong, competent readers who love books! We help kids learn the sounds that make up the building blocks of our language. Kids become able to sound out words and develop confidence in their ability to try to read new words.

Remember that learning to read can be a struggle for many children, but if you give your son the skills that he needs to be a successful reader, a love of reading will follow eventually. Continue to make an effort to share reading time with your son, and encourage him every step of the way!

——-

Do you have an education question that you’d like ask us? Leave your question in the comments, or visit us on Twitter to ask your question there!

Ask any random group of kids about reading and they’ll tell you that it’s boring. Reading is old news—a holdover from a bygone era. Remember when children strained their vision reading by candlelight or by flashlight under the covers? Those classic images of childhood are relics.

Kids today will more likely be remembered for their above-average video game prowess or their knowledge of browser specifications and music video streaming speeds.

That fact that today’s kids are so wired and trained by instant technological entertainment gratification— pleasure is never more then a flick of a button away—is one of the major reasons that reading has fallen out of favor with today’s youth.

This techno factor is also to blame for the fact that books don’t get the same media attention that video games or movies do. Where are the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys for this generation of kids? Sure, there’s Harry Potter and the Lemony Snicket series, but unless books garner the attention of Hollywood, they’re not likely to get the attention of children.

But why is reading books important anyway? After all, kids read enough in video game instruction and while text messaging. More than likely, the quantity of reading is not diminished by technology— it is the quality of the literature that is not up to snuff.

Reading books—in the old-fashioned, alone and quiet sense—does more than simply help to develop a strong vocabulary—it helps instant-entertainment children learn how to delay gratification. It teaches how to self-amuse and be patient and to focus on one thing at a time. Reading a book is like a debriefing for media-saturated children. It helps them be able to focus on a single thing at a time. There is a clear ramp-up time to a book—sometimes it can take two or three chapters get hooked, teaching perseverance and patience.

But more than that, spending QT with a good book helps children develop skills that will pay off in the classroom. Reading teaches the importance of seeing connections and new meanings. And one thing that video games will never be able to do is transmit the emotional development of its’ characters. If nothing else, a book teaches children how to empathize with others.

Getting your child to unplug and read a book isn’t an easy task. This article has some great tips on developing better reading habits.

We’ve talked a lot about the importance of literacy on this blog and how traditional children’s leisure activities (like reading a good book, for example) are on the decline in today’s digital playground.

That being said, children’s literacy scored a major victory this past weekend thanks to the release of the final Harry Potter book. Kids in all English-speaking nations turned off their TVs and logged off the Internet to hunker down with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which was released this past Saturday morning at midnight.

Not that the popularity of the final Harry Potter book is that surprising. After all, the Harry Potter books are one of the biggest series ever. What is surprising, however, is that the book release and subsequent fan-demonium occurred only a mere week after the release of the fifth Harry Potter movie, The Order of the Phoenix.

Now, if we look at children’s recreational trends of the past few years, all signs should have indicated that the MOVIE would be more popular. After all, movies are part of the media-literate vernacular right along with iPods, video games, text messaging, computers, etc.

But, for one weekend, kids unplugged and the more traditional, and decidedly un-digital, activity of reading reigned in popularity.

Fans of all ages lined up in bookstores at midnight to buy the book and be the first on their block to find out what happens to Harry Potter and friends. In fact, this past weekend was a record-breaker in Canadian book sales.

Maybe the record-breaking weekend for reading happened because the book is the last in the much-loved series and has been promoted since JK Rowling announced the finale. Or maybe it was because it was the second weekend of the movie, but in either case, whatever gets children excited about reading and looking forward to reading is a good thing.

For the sake of children’s literacy everywhere, I hope that Rowling reconsiders and continues working her unique brand of literary magic—a magic that gets kids excited about reading.

Last week was children’s book week in the US, this week it is book week in Canada—writing contests, author readings, book giveaways, read-ins… what a great way to promote literacy in young readers! It’s reading and fun combined.

Canada’s book week is the only bilingual literacy event in the nation. To find out more about how to participate in Book Week, go to BookWeek.ca.

One of the first things that my mother ever taught me was that books are our friends. (Usually preceded by a scolding such as: we do NOT color in books! or we do NOT crumple book pages!) Needless to say, my love of books and the written word was developed at an early age—which is coincidently the impetus behind Children’s Book Week… developing a love of books.

This Week is U.S. Children’s Book Week — November 13-17. This year’s theme is More Books Please! Which is based, I’m guessing, on inspiring a hunger in children so that they can’t get enough of books—or the magic, whimsy, ideas and worlds that they can discover by reading.

More on children’s book week here: http://www.cbcbooks.org/cbw/

Some of my favorite childhood books:

• Anything by Judy Blume—especially Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret, & Tales of a Forth Grade Nothing
• Memo to Myself: When I have a Teenage Kid by Carol Snyder
• The Babysitter’s Club Books
• The Berenstain Bears series
• Dr. Seuss — Horton Hatches the Egg, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas
• Richard Scarry—Is this the House of Mistress Mouse? & Good Night, Little Bear

What are some of your favorite children’s books?