Reading is one of the lost good habits among children. For brain development of children, reading has a major share, but these days children are not willing to read anything. They prefer reading a gist rather than the entire story. Similarly, they prefer reading question answers compared to the chapter thoroughly. As this is not right and parents need to inculcate reading habits among their children. Here are some ways parents can do this.
Reading is an overall good habit and the children need to be serious about reading just like other subjects. So, parents, while making their study routine, need to include reading in it.
By doing this, students will consider reading as an essential subject and they will spare at least some time in reading. Reading not just helps kids in developing patience, it helps in widening vocabulary, developing correct pronunciation, sense of punctuation, reading, and speaking style too. So, reading should be in the daily study routine of kids.
Once a child completes the reading lesson on a given duration, acknowledge this progress and reward them with a book. Getting a book slowly develops a love for reading. Be it an occasion like birthday or result day, keep a book along with other gifts to encourage your child to read more.
Till a certain age, parents read a story and children prefer listening to it before they fall asleep. After 2-3 years, just give them a short story to read before they sleep.
By seeing parents reading, kids will gradually develop a habit of reading. Actually, children learn by seeing or specifically imitating others. If parents can read anything (newspaper, books, and journals) loudly in front of their children, children will slowly develop a habit of reading. So, parents need to be children’s role models when it comes to reading. This is a smart yet effective tip to inculcate reading habits in kids.
It is okay to read together even if your child can read by him/herself. Reading aloud together will help parents to correct the pronunciation of their child. So whenever you want, read aloud with your child and encourage them to read.
To make your child interested in reading, try to speak about what you have read. Also, once they finish reading something, have a discussion on the reading material. Ask them how was the story what they liked and what they disliked about the book or story.
To make reading an even fun activity, enact the story with your child. It will help your child to live in the story and understand the story in a better way.
Reading is much dependent on topics - a child or an adult will finish a book on their favorite topic in just minutes or hours. But when the topic is not of their interest, it takes days or weeks or even months to complete reading that book.
So, parents first need to find out the topic that interests their children. It can be an academic subject (like history, or moral science) or sci-fi, or fiction. Children generally prefer graphic novels. On any topic, children-friendly books are available. Parents need to bring books on that topic.
After a certain age, it is essential for parents to allow the children to select the books as per their preferred topics or author.
Make a good stock of books at home, so that your child can get reading materials wherever they have free time in hand. In between reading academic subjects or anytime, they should get reading materials in hand.
It is the responsibility of the parents to make the kids familiar with the ambiance of a library. Also, teach children how to find books and maintain silence in a library. Slowly, the children will develop a habit of going to the library to read their favorite books. Ask the librarian to suggest kids-friendly books in case you are unsure of this.
From a tender age, resist giving them e-books or gadgets. Give them printed materials from local libraries.
Parents can invite their children’s friends to read together. It is a fun and enjoyable activity for children. If this is not possible, allow your child to read with a pet or a soft toy - due to this, the child will feel like someone is listening to what he/she is reading. It will make a child more careful.
Along with all these tips, parents often prefer to make a reading corner for the children. But it is not always needed - make your children read in any setting (home, school, bus, car, etc.). These will help children a lot in developing good reading habits.