My husband and I have tried very hard to nurture a love of reading in Birdy and I think it’s safe to say we’ve been successful. It’s possible we may have even overdone it just slightly. Birdy came home incredibly excited after her kindy class had their first official visit to the school library. She wasn’t just looking forward to going to the library, she told us that she had been ‘shivering’ all day because she was ‘just sooo excited’ about borrowing her first book. So we may have a future library monitor in the making.
We haven’t really seen any reading progress in the first few weeks of school, but I think the nervous anticipation is partly about realising that they are learning to read and that soon they will be able to read books by themselves. I’ve actually put my hand up to be one of the parents who help out with reading in class. I’ve only done it once so far but already it’s been a great way to suss out what goes on in the classroom. (I know who all the naughty kids are now and who are the smartypants as well.) But it’s been amazing to see the huge variation in what kindy kids know when they start school. Some of the children know all their letters and what sounds they make, and some also understand the concept of sounding out words, whereas other children still can’t recognise all the letters of the alphabet.
Most of us know that the best thing we can do for our kids is to read to them every day. Generally we do that before bed to help children wind down, but sometimes, if mums and dads are a wee bit tired and want the kids in bed as soon as humanly possible so they can have that glass of red and catch up on the latest episode of Rafters or whatever people watch these days, we might be a tad more inclined to pick the absolute shortest book we can find or, dare I say it, even skip over the story a little? Whole pages have been known to disappear from The Cat in the Hat on a Friday night. I mean seriously, how long is that book?
So if we want to make reading time a fun time, rather than an ‘I’m-so-over-it-I-just-want-you-asleep’ time, we should probably try to read at other times of the day, as well as at bedtime. That way we might be more inclined to talk about the pictures, help them understand the story, do the silly voices and all the other things that make reading time fun. And while small kids are often quite happy to read the same stories again and again, they also get excited about new books. So take the time to go the library once a week or buy a new book to mark a special occasion. When I was a kid, Mum never gave me money for lollies, but when the Ashton Scholastic catalogue came to school, we went nuts! There may not have been money for treats or new clothes, but there was always money and time for books. We could even get out of washing up if we stuck our head in a book, that’s how much importance my Mum placed on reading.
Something I was surprised to learn as a new parent is that children actually need to see you reading too. Just reading aloud to them isn’t enough, they need to see you absorbed in a book or a magazine. It’s like eating. It’s all in the modelling. You can’t offer your child a carrot stick and then sit down and eat a Mars Bar in front of them. You need to show your child that reading is enjoyable and important by making time to sit down and read for pleasure.
On the flip side, if you don’t have time to read a story, words are everywhere so just read whatever is around you. Point out words on traffic signs and bus advertisements and menus. You’ll be sending your child a message that reading is a life skill, not just a form of entertainment.
I’ve heard some parents say their child just isn’t interested in books. I wonder if they just haven’t found the right type of book for that child. Talk to a librarian or their teacher about what might work. Some boys just love really simple books with pictures of trucks and cars and motorbikes and not too many words. Finally, and I realise this might sound a little “out there”, one way to make books more absorbing is to bring the characters to life by talking about them as if they’re real. “Charlie and Lola live in London.” Or “Wendy the Chicken had to go to hospital too.” Books are most compelling when we care about the characters and what happens to them, so talk about them as if they’re your child’s friends. One day they’ll probably say, “Mum, Moonface isn’t real, silly”, but until then… make it work for you.
What are your tips for teaching kids to read and nuturing a love of books? Do you have any fave books your children loved to read again and again? Do you find yourself sometimes rushing through stories at bedtime? Do you have trouble finding time to read for yourself?
Great advice Katrina!
Yeah, we read lots of books here and the key to making it more enjoyable for the adult is having a good supply of fresh books, I say!
I mean, we have our favourites that we own and read again and again, but I always look forward to that bed time story session much more when we’ve got a fresh stash from the library.
I really haven’t been very intentional about pointing out specific words and letters while we read yet, but the kids have definitely developed a love for stories and they like discussing the pictures (where applicable) and anticipating what’s coming next. We do often read books that are a bit ‘meaty’, and I have wondered at times whether it’s important to still be making sure we read the very simple, short books together – the kind that El will be learning to read with. Does anyone have thoughts on this?
Actually, our baby girl (now 6 months) was given the little board-type book That’s not my Dolly when she was born, and her older brother and sister had us read it to them so many times that my husband said they should start ‘reading’ it to us instead. I have some very cute footage of both my 5 year old and my 2.5 year old ‘reading’ it to their baby sister. They love doing it and look so proud of themselves. You can get a sense of how exciting it will be when they’re able to do it by understanding the words even without the picture and memory prompts!
Oh, and speaking of Moonface, Katrina, I’m really enjoying reading the Magic Faraway Tree with the kids every night at the moment!
Yeah Aly, funny you should mention about The Enchanted Wood (The Faraway Tree). I read that to Birdy at Christmas and discovered two of my friends were reading it to their 5 year olds at exactly the same time. The kids loved talking about the book together. It’s great when you hit just the right book at just the right time.
We’ve also realised though that we need to keep reading those simple books, because as you say these are the books that will teach them to read. Books like, “Dear Zoo” (Rod Campbell), “Where is the Green Sheep?” “Hattie and the Fox” (Mem Fox) “Who sank the boat?” (Pamela Allen) and anything that is strongly repetitive. Mem Fox writes particularly for that purpose of teaching children to read so her books are often good for that. The problem is that if the book is too easy, they just recite it from memory and don’t bother to look at the words at all! I think keeping a mix of different styles of books and getting a fresh stash pretty regularly is the way to go. For a while, I was reading Birdy the Rod Clement book “Feathers for Phoebe” every night for about 2 weeks running when it was brand new and by the end I had to ban it for two nights cause it was doing my head in!
I love reading and when my oldest was about 8/9?? and kept sitting to watch TVI banned her from it and said nope – read instead – she was just being lazy “nothing to do” and could read well. Now she is an avid reader and can’t be seen without a book in hand (mental note to me: must do that with the other two now). I also say they can’t watch the movie until they’ve read the book. I’ve also started reading the books that they’re reading so I can get into it and talk about it with them.