Regular visitors to my blog will know that I'm a book worm and passionate about reading. I have always hoped that my children will follow in my footsteps. They have grown up in homes full of books and were introduced at an early age to the library.
It is incredibly rare for my children to go to bed without me (or a grandparent) reading to them. In fact one of the worst punishments I can dish out is to not read to them as they get very upset. The choice of reading material has worked it's way from picture books and is now starting to become chapter books. We all like the suspense of waiting for the next night to see what happens next! Sometimes these are books new to all of us but also I am revisiting favourites from my own childhood with stories such as The Magicians Nephew and The Hobbit.
The children both enjoy reading to me too. This year my son at nearly 6 has really got into reading and has moved on a few levels already. He is so keen to read his new book each night that he reads it to me in the car on the way home! Partly this fuelled by a competitive streak as he wants to be at a higher level than his friends in class. He also enjoys picking out words in his bedtime stories or reading them from other sources. I really hope that he carries on being this enthusiastic.
My daughter is really turning out to be a chip off the old block when it comes to reading. She loves to read way after lights out in bed every night. The level of her reading has suddenly leapt up. At 8 she is devouring books by Roald Dahl and tonight I started her off on her first Discworld novel Wee Free Men. She is a pretty confident and competent reader though the vocabulary can stretch her a bit especially when reading aloud. Today she said she would rather read than play on her DS which is a good thing.
Long may both my children love reading and being read too. It will be such a shame when they are too old for a bedtime story. Though I guess we will all end up curled in our favourite chairs with our noses in our own books!
How have you encouraged your children to read and what tips could you offer to those with more reluctant readers?
It's lovely to see your kids enjoying reading too. My son is only 3 1/2 at the moment but he loves books and has a real passion for them which I hope will stay.
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