How to Foster Reading Habits in Children

Reading is a fun and affordable activity with multiple benefits that are best reaped when starting at an early age. But, how to foster reading habits in children? And how to keep them reading? Here we examine some of the most effective methods.

1.- The All-Important Role of Parents

Teaching through example is the easiest and most perdurable manner to build habits in children, and reading is no exception.

Children copy everything they see and hear in their environment, specially from adults. If their parents don’t read, and if children perceive that they don’t have a positive approach to books and reading in general, neither will they.

"What do you do to get yours to read?"

Illustration: Flavita Banana

As with all aspects of education, parents can’t leave all the responsibility of learning and habit forming to schools and teachers. Whatever is taught in school needs to be reinforced at home in order for it to be effective, regardless of how pedagogical the teacher may be or how innovative the method of learning is.

Also, children need to feel a certain amount of pressure in order to spur their learning. If they sense that their parents do not care about them learning, or that they do not value education, neither will they, and all the school’s efforts to teach and educate will be in vain.

2.- Make Reading Material Available

Healthy children are naturally curious, and providing them with good illustrated books as a source of information is a great way of starting and establishing lasting reading skills. However, books alone should not be the sole suppliers of information, but a source to deepen the answers given by their elders.

Having a variety of books at home and good reading material is essential. In order to encourage reading, good books ought to be freely available to children at all times. These have to be attractive and appropriate in subject to their age and scholarly level. If you’re not sure about the books recommended for your child’s age, ask a librarian or go to the Good Reads website for complete listings.

Aside from picture books and readers, comic books and magazines are also very attractive for children due to their profusion of images and brief texts that encourage them to test their reading skills. In addition to this material, children should also have access to children’s dictionaries and encyclopaedias to help clarify doubts and further their learning.

In all these, as well as in the use of correct language at home, parents are instrumental in starting and develop good reading habits in their children.

3.- Make Reading A Social Activity

Many see reading as an ‘antisocial’ activity that isolates children, or one that is not suitable enough for active children. But reading doesn’t have to be a lonely or boring activity. When parents read to their children, they are not only encouraging in them reading habits and helping them build their vocabulary, but they’re also strengthening their parental bond and creating memorable moments together.

Picture books without text are great to encourage participatory reading, since it encourages the child to thread his/her own story based of the pictures. Multiple versions are possible as well as the exchange of ideas to explain why something happens and not something else.

Another great idea to encourage participatory reading is to bring kids to libraries. There’s hardly any that doesn’t have a room dedicated to children, and many organize readings with children’s books authors, demonstrations with children’s books illustrators, sessions with storytellers, Punch and Judy shows, handicraft classes, games and activities, etc.

At these events, children learn much more than mere reading: they develop social manners and a sense of community, they learn how to behave in public spaces and how to care for the library materials (books, games, toys, furniture, etc.). It’s also a great way to tighten family bonds and have a fun time together, and a good opportunity to get the child her/his first library card. What’s best is that the access to the library and most of these events are usually free of charge.

4.- Reading Is Fun!

Reading should never be a forced activity, and children should not associate it with anything unpleasant (reading as a punishment, reading as a competition, reading boring, difficult or scary material, reading only as a prelude to a difficult test, etc.). Reading should always be presented as a fun activity and encouraged under a positive light.

Children who do not read well, or have difficulty reading, should not be rebuked or ridiculed. Instead, parents and teachers should pay special attention to them, since this difficulty may point to other problems, such as visual issues, dyslexia, etc.

5.- Let Them Choose.

Allowing children to chose their books freely gives them a sense of autonomy, encourages self-esteem and helps them develop a healthy relationship with reading.

Also, commenting on books often at family gatherings, and inquiring about their children’s favourite reading, help children to cement their relationship with books and provides important insights into their minds.

6.- Give the Gift of Reading

One of the best ways to encourage reading in children is to give them books as presents often. Not just on holidays and birthdays, but as rewards for anything good they have accomplished (a successful visit to the doctor, a new tooth, good grades, etc.). They don’t need to be expensive hardbacks - little colourful tales a few pages long will suffice and will keep them interested and hooked on reading just as well.

7.- Paper Is Better

Although e-Books and tablets are not discouraged, most children will want books they can scribble on, colour and annotate. Although parents may cringe at the damage, this is one way in which children make books ‘theirs’ and it’s normal in their familiarization process. Books should be approachable, not untouchable items.

If book damage is a problem, set clear limits: provide them with books they can scribble and colour, and make clear which books ‘can’t be hurt’.

Picture: New York Public Library

Developing reading habits is a process comparable to athletic training. It requires time and the gradual development of strength, in the form of a greater span of attention and increased vocabulary, taking small steps as the reader’s confidence and ability to understand grows.

Most of the habits we carry the rest of our lives stem from childhood, and reading is no exception. Although not entirely impossible, it is extremely hard to develop a taste for books in adulthood, so it’s always best to foster it in children as early as possible. Starting early will render a whole lifetime of benefits, many of which are impossible to get in adult life.

For a detailed list of these benefits, we invite you to read our article, "Reading: The Super Activity".

"The more that you read,

the more things you will know.

The more that you learn,

the more places you’ll go."

I can read with my eyes shut- Dr. Seuss