Great reading habits start at home and building those habits aren’t as difficult or as tiring as you might think. Here are some tips on encouraging your kids to read.
Read, Read, Read! Read at least 20 minutes each day!
Reading is like food for your brain. Your brain actually develops as you feed it with the experience of reading. It improves listening skills and academic success. For every year that a person spends reading (either independently or being read aloud to), his/her lifetime earning potential goes up considerably. For a time investment of approximately 87 hours a year (20 minutes a day for 5 days a week), you can increase your child’s ability to support him or herself in the future considerably.
A student who reads 20 minutes per day will read 1,800,000 words by the end of the sixth grade, compared with a student who reads one minute per day, who will read only 8,000 words. The student who reads one minute per day will only read .004% of what the 20 minute reader will read. That’s a huge difference!
Explore Books! Give your child an opportunity to explore books. Visit a bookstore, or library. This will give your child the chance to find topics that interest them.
Make it Fun! Reading shouldn’t be a chore. Intentionally read with your child/discuss books but also research topics and do book activities together.
Be an Example: Children learn by example, so let your child see you read whether it’s a book, magazine, newspaper or cookbook.
How are you building good reading habits at home with your kids?
