Enjoying stores – to encourage reading

Most parents want their children to read – well it begins when they are very small by making sure that they enjoy stories and of course that is down to the parents, or people who read regularly to them. Here’s a few tips to make sure reading a story is fun for both the adult reading the story and the child

Making stories fun for toddlers and young children

• Choosing the right book is a good start – if it is too complicated, or there are simply too many words on a page, even if the parent is reading it, the child will quickly become bored and want to turn a page, finish the book or simply get down and do something else. There is a huge selection of excellent books available for young children. Some can be expensive but second hand ones are often available at car boot sales or via eBay and of course books can be borrowed from libraries AND libraries can also be fun places to visit.
• Making sure that, as an adult, you have time to enjoy the experience is also important. It is undoubtedly tough when caring for children, possibly more than one, and perhaps working as well, to make time for reading but if a child senses that you are enjoying reading to them and have time to devote to the activity, they will be learning, not only that stories are fun but that you value books and reading, and of course that you value time with them.
• Savour the story, talk about the pictures, encourage the child to look for detail in the pictures and point to things on the page.
• Read and re read the same story if that is what the child wants, it is normal and often they enjoy getting to the stage where they can predict what comes next – when they know a story well, try changing a detail, not only will they think it is hilarious but it is a good way of sustaining their interest.
• As children begin to read for themselves, make sure that you still make time to enjoy reading stories together AND that they don’t always have to read, unless of course they want to.
• When children bring books home from school support them with reading but try also to make time for some reading that simply for fun.
• It is also important for children to see that you enjoy reading – books, magazines or newspapers –  if they see you making time to read they are more likely to see it as something good and something they want to copy.

Supporting Reading

If children are reluctant to read try to encourage rather than nag.

Allow time in the evening schedule for reading and it often helps to make sure that the TV is turned off for a little while.

Children may love a bedtime story and as they get older may enjoy recreational reading, which is great, but when they are still learning to read give them opportunities to read before bedtime when they are still awake enough to concentrate.

Choosing books

For reluctant readers make sure that you give some guidance when they choose a book. It is important that it is not too difficult and that it is something they will enjoy – funny or informative, related to something they are interested in – like football or dancing or based around a computer game or TV or film character they love – and definitely not too long.

When children are reading longer books they may need some help to get through them at first and may enjoy, and benefit from, a parent reading some of it to them.

If your child does choose a book that doesn’t sustain their interest then it’s often a mistake to make them persist – in fact it may only serve to put them off reading.  It is often better to simply choose another one.

The pace at which a book is read can increase the enjoyment, we can probably all remember reading a book on holiday, or on a long journey, that we particularly enjoyed. Sometimes that is because we had the time to read it at the right pace.

First steps towards reading

One of the big mistakes parents can make is trying to get children to read before they are ready, this can easily cause more harm than good. But when thinking about reading be sure to concentrate on the sounds first and try to avoid using letter names – like  A B C – use the sounds instead – c a t -for example.

Long before looking at letters try having fun with sounds so children can learn to recognise the sounds in words, perhaps moving on to identify the sound (not the letter) at the beginning of a word.

Getting Help

If your child begins to struggle with reading, whatever their age, contact their school to discuss any worries you may have and how they can best be helped -they may benefit from a specialised phonics programme like soundswrite.

General