“I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book”
– J K Rowling

Inculcating the Reading Habit

A child who reads will be an adult who thinks- thus goes a popular saying. Whether reading is for pleasure or purpose, it is a habit that will stand your child in good stead all through their life. Some children take to reading instinctively like a fish takes to water while some others may show little interest, if any. They may refuse to focus on what you are saying or reading to them and may seem unlikely to sit down and pay attention to books. But just as with all other hobbies, reading can’t be forced upon a child. It is best to be patient and create a conducive environment when trying to initiate children into reading.

Encouraging Young Readers

Make sure there is adequate interesting, bright and child-friendly reading material available around the house. A language rich environment includes written words, spoken words, art and music. We must give children the flexibility to approach and explore books the way they like. For young pre-readers, it is not necessary to read out exactly what is printed on the pages to them. Letting children interpret and ‘read’ the pictures in their own way is a sure shot way to inspire them.

Modelling desirable behaviour is vital. If as parents, we are spending all our time on devices but expect our children to sit down with books, it is not exactly an effective method to promote the reading habit. Make sure the child sees you reading different kinds of books and magazines or even the newspaper.

Talk to your infant/young child from the earliest days. Listening and then speaking is the natural progression in language development. (LSRW- Listening-Speaking-Reading-Writing being the four pillars upon which effective language development is based). The more spoken language is used, the better developed your child’s language skills will be. Simply giving a commentary about what is happening around the child in simple, short sentences boosts the child’s mental development and helps them make sense of their world. Speak to the child in a calm, relaxed voice about what the child is seeing, what you are doing, describe the objects in the child’s surroundings- their shape, size, colour, texture, etc.

Read to and with the child for at least 30 minutes every day. This will make them decode the conventions of reading. Running your index finger under the print as you read will guide them how the text runs on the page. Read as many stories to them as you can. Most children love listening to stories so when they make the connection that the tales they so love are being read to them from a book, they will be more curious to open a book on their own.

Use songs, poems and stories with repetitive sounds. Repetition helps the child pick up sound patterns as well as provides comfort to the child. It guides them towards identifying various sounds and encourages them to replicate them. Prompt them to repeat the sounds after you- the importance of establishing this connection between the written word and spoken word can not be overemphasized.

Don’t hesitate to revisit the same old books/stories if your child wants to. Many a time your child will insist on being read the same story from a particular book over and over again. Relax! While we as adults may find the same stuff boring, children find it comforting to go back to the same story because the familiar characters and predictability of the known plot gives them a sense of safety and security.

Don’t restrict reading merely to books. Make a game out of simple tasks like reading labels on grocery items, your shopping list, hoardings on streets and care instructions on clothes and appliances. Make sure children notice that print is everywhere. Put up labels around the house. Writing down the names of objects like table, chair, door, cupboard, wall, curtain, plant, bucket, tap on a piece of paper in big letters and pasting them on the respective items will help your child form whole-word associations and soon they will be identifying those words in the books they look at. Create a word-wall listing common words and point to them as you read them. Let your child repeat them after you. This will accelerate their reading skills.

Promoting reading in school-age children

• Encourage the child to read on their own at home. While being familiar with curricular text books is important, make sure every day the child gets to read their favourite books for fun as well.
• Make available a wide variety of reading material of different difficulty levels and let your child go through it at their own pace. Let them pick and choose on their own- if they choose something that’s too easy or too difficult for their skills, let them. Don’t mock them for enjoying books aimed at younger children and don’t discourage them from trying out books meant for older ones.
• Encourage reading aloud. Select articles of interest and ask them to read them out to the family or ask them to pick out passages they would like to read to you. Appreciate their efforts and focus on successes rather than shortcomings. As children gain proficiency and confidence, they will figure out the nuances of pronunciation, pauses and inflection. Frequent checking and excessive correcting by a monitoring adult can dampen their spirit and make them lose interest in reading.
• Write short notes for the child to read and place them in their room to read. Put up a scheduler to keep track of their weekly/ fortnightly tasks and ask them to keep updating the same. (In a subsequent blog, we will talk about effective time management and raising responsible kids)
• Involve children in activities that require reading as a skill. It could be going through instructions for handling an appliance or studying a map to find directions or reading the rules of a board game.
• Eliminating screen time is not possible in the present scenario- instead additionally introduce and ensure at least 20-30 minutes of non-screen reading time every day (preferably with you present). This should be at a time when you and your child are not tired or in a hurry to move to the next chore.

What is paramount when initially trying to inculcate the reading habit in children is to focus on fun rather than on learning. Keep encouraging your child and do not rush. Reading is a complex process that requires practice, perseverance and patience. With your support and access to a print rich environment your child will soon grow into a voracious reader. We wish you and your child fun times reading and enjoying books together!