One of the defining things about me as a child was that I was a reader. I read at the table (until busted). I read in the bed after bedtime (until busted). I read in the car. I read everywhere. I used to workout at 6 am and when I would leave the house at 5:50 to get to the gym, I’d always pass a kid at the bus stop (the high schools here start at 7:15 and the elementary schools start at 9 or 9:30. If there is ever an age group that needs to start at 9:30 it is high schoolers, but I digress) and he was always reading a book. That kid did my heart good every morning.
I prize reading not because I happen now to be a writer, but because I know that every good thing that came my way, came because I was a voracious reader. Reading made me curious, careful, compassionate. Reading gave me the world in a way that my parents financially couldn’t– but they knew how to give me the world through a book, and that lesson taught me that I could go out and get it. I know that reading changed my life, and I believe it can change everyone’s life, but only if that fire for reading is lit from within.
Here, four out-of-the-box things I’ve seen parents do which I think are brilliant ideas when it comes to inspiring the reader within their child…
1. This was my dad’s strategy: Take me to the library every Saturday morning and allow me to spend as much time as I wanted- and sometimes it was hours- picking books out of the kids’ room. And when I approached the desk to check out my too-tall stack, he never said anything to me about, “Are you sure you can read that many books in a week?” He just fueled my fire.
2. A friend’s parents gave him a bedside table lamp on his eigth birthday. That lamp was the last thing an 8 year old wanted, but, then, they told him this: From now on, he could use that bedside lamp to determine his bedtime. He would still get in bed at the same time every night. But, in his bed, he could read as late as he wanted to with his table lamp. Inevitably, he felt empowered that he could stay up past his bedtime so he wanted to read every night before going to bed and, yet, he was too tired to stay up late enough for it to affect him physically. It, however, was just enough reading every night to affect him emotionally and intellectually. A total win, win for parent and child. And this friend of mine? One of the finest men I know. You connect the dots.
3. The same friend’s parents used to sit him down at the beginning of each summer and ask him what he would like to do that summer for fun. He’d come up with a long list– go to the local amusement park, go fishing, stay up past his bedtime to watch a movie, etc– and then they would come up with a learning list. Every time he learned something, he got to pick a thing to do off his fun list. The learning list had poems he had to memorize, instructions to identify 5 insects, leaves, or flowers he found outside, etc. All of the learning required him (in the pre-internet age) to turn to a book. Fifteen years later, he could still recite If by Rudyard Kipling (If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,/ Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch;/ If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; /If all men count with you, but none too much;/ If you can fill the unforgiving minute/ With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run -/ Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,/ And – which is more – you’ll be a Man my son).
4. I just read about this one on Viva La Feminista’s blog. She told her daughter, who was curious about what her mom reads, that the books on the living room shelf were hers for the taking (anything not age appropriate got moved to the home office shelf) and now the living room shelf is a no-holds barred lending library for her daugher, only fueling her curiosity and interest in learning.
What are the great strategies you’ve used or seen used to develop a person’s love of reading?
When I was a nanny I would get the older kids to read to the younger ones.. The older ones loved holding court and the younger ones couldnt wait to be the ones sitting in thier chair..
I remember going to the library with my dad too.. it was a block from our house.. I still call that Library “MY Library” 🙂
I love this post!
My mother took my brothers and I to the library every Saturday as children. I would always come home with a stack of books. Growing up in Florida, we spent so much time at the beach and my mother always worried about sun exposure. While at the beach, we had to come inside from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day which gave us plenty of time for reading.
I, too, love this post! I wholeheartedly agree that all of my educational successes were because I loved to read. My brother is the most intelligent person I’ve ever met, and he is a voracious reader – and always has been. I can’t think of anything that my parents did or didn’t do with or for us when we were kids, except read. When we were babies/toddlers, we got read too. All the time. By everyone, mom, grandma, babysitter, whoever was around.
Summertime, instead of going to summer camp on the beach like everyone else. The younger kids like myself got to play school camp where the bigger kids were our “tutors” and we did science and math and reading all summer. My grandmother was a retired school teacher by the time my brother and I were school age so she did our homework with us and made up all kinds of worksheets and workbooks for us to do in our spare time.
I can’t recall whether we always got educational toys because we liked them or whether we liked them because they were given to us. But I do the same now to all the kids in my family. Every Christmas, I get the kids a “fun” toy. But, for their birthdays they get a “smart” toy – whether it’s a book collection (my favorite gift is to give the girls a collection of books that I loved – Dr. Seuss collection, Beverly Cleary, etc.) or a project type gift that forces them to build or create something, be artistic, etc.
I love the ideas that you’ve shared here and I’m going to print this out for future reference! 🙂
Thanks, Rosie and sorry for the looooong comment.
Your “friend” and I have very much in common with the poetry recitation- If was one of the poems my dad had me memorize out of the “best loved poems of the american people” book that his parents gave him in 1957 and I still often recite it to myself- probably my most favorite poem. I also memorized Casey at the Bat… Invictus… Oh Captain My Captain… and my dad would have me occasionally recite the poems for small gatherings of family/friends to practice public speaking :p
Like you I was always trying to get away with reading at the table… and in the bath-tub… and when I was supposed to be asleep or studying… a love of reading is one of the best gifts parents can give/encourage in their children… I know Happy will pick it up fast between you and BF. 🙂 And in the meantime enjoy your story (and song) time together! Such sweet and precious moments.