Reading Books

“I hate reading.” If you’re a parent, you probably hear this a lot from your children. You often wonder how your child has come to dislike reading so much. The answer is simple. Take a look at your child’s surroundings. There are many things around your child that could possibly interfere with your child’s love of reading and possibly kill that love. Nowadays most parents are troubled by their child’s lack of interest in reading, especially with all the distractions modern technology has given us today. Television, video games, computer… these grab their attention during their leisure time rather than a good book.

You try and try to give them reading sessions and try to test them on it, but in reality these reading sessions are more like drilling sessions. Testing your child just put more stress on your children. Rather than giving them quizzes about their reading, try pointing things out and asking questions about it. These reading sessions could even turn into screaming sessions as well. You may experience frustration if your child doesn’t excel as fast as you want them to.

Giving your child books that are too difficult for their reading level isn’t exactly the best idea either. You may think you’re challenging your child to go further, but it could actually discourage your child when he or she doesn’t know how to read many of the words. Not only are these books too hard for them to read, but also they are probably of no interest to them. How are they supposed to regard these books? BORING!  To a young boy, reading a book about cars would probably be more appealing than a book about Dick and Jane. Teenagers are usually more captivated by books that they could relate to. Assigned reading is pretty much forced reading. Usually older children dread the thought of doing homework, and having to read for homework is worse.

Peer pressure may also be another factor to your child’s lack of interest in reading. Others can be cruel with their teasing and branding. The terms “nerds” and “geeks” are usually labeled to those who indulge themselves in their books. Your child would probably dive into the bandwagon and shun reading just to be one of the “cool kids.”

Your child shouldn’t feel limited when reading. If your child is interested in science fiction books, but you only allow them to read classic literature, this could discourage your child’s reading even more. You should be supportive of what they like and allow them to open their minds to other genres as well.

Show your child that reading can be fun and enjoyable. You shouldn’t push them too hard to learn to read or to read to learn. Once your child has a love for reading, then the learning can begin.