I come from a family of teachers, but I was never forced into reading—it was something my parents valued and part of what we did at home. On the other hand, I had a cousin my age who was forced into reading before kindergarten and, to this day, hates reading. I picked up reading naturally when I entered kindergarten, but he had more difficulty grasping it.
My story is an isolated example of how families can influence kids’ attitudes toward reading at a young age, but it’s powerful because it’s carried into my adult life. Now, my wife and I read to our eight-year-old and five-year-old daughters nightly. Already, we’ve seen the effect our nightly stories have had on our older daughter’s reading trajectory.
We noticed when we read the same stories to her over and over again, she began memorizing them. At first, she associated the pictures with parts of the story. Then, she started sounding out the words and tapping the syllables as she read them. At that point, we knew that she had transitioned to reading. We didn’t follow any particular program or pressure her, but we modeled what reading looked like, and she caught on quickly.
Reading at School Isn’t Enough
We all remember that kid in class who struggled to read aloud and know how painful it was for them. As parents, we want to set our children up for academic success at a time when only one-third of American children are proficient readers (NAEP, 2019).
While schools focus much of their time on getting struggling readers up to speed, they often don’t have the time or capacity to encourage independent reading. Promoting reading at home can effectively support a child’s academic growth and foster a love for lifelong learning.
Image Credit: NDAB Creativity/Shutterstock.
Cognitive science research tells us that reading to our children is one of the best ways to support their literacy development—starting well before kindergarten. Studies show that family members and caregivers play a significant role in a child’s literacy acquisition. Parents who read to their children, have books in their home, exhibit a positive attitude toward school, and establish high-achievement goals for their children tend to have higher achievers than parents who do not.
However, finding the right resources and carving out extra time takes some planning and effort. Some parents may also find it challenging to get struggling or reluctant readers to embrace reading for pleasure.
Creating a Family Culture That Encourages Reading
Reading after school hours shouldn’t feel like homework for your children. In our experience, we’ve found some hacks to help you create a culture of family literacy and foster a love of reading.
Read aloud to your children, beginning at a young age.
Reading stories aloud helps you bond with your child and introduces them to extensive vocabulary sooner, according to Dominic Massaro, former psychology professor and researcher.
Massaro found that picture books are two to three times as likely as parent-child conversations to include a word that isn’t among the 5,000 most common English words. Reading aloud also models fluent reading, encourages discussion, and sparks creativity.
Allow kids to read about things they enjoy.
While kids should be exposed to high-quality children’s literature, it’s okay to read popular books about people and places they’re interested in. This approach makes reading more enjoyable and helps them expand their knowledge and vocabulary in areas they are passionate about. For example, my girls have a Little Golden Book about Taylor Swift that they read weekly.
Model what reading for pleasure looks like.
I read every night to wind down. My children frequently see me reading; when appropriate, I read passages aloud that might interest them. This shows them that reading isn’t just a school activity, but something you can do for pleasure.
Image Credit: Miljan Zivkovic/Shutterstock.com.
Stay plugged into what they’re learning at school.
My eight-year-old takes home reading homework weekly, and we often work on it together to reinforce the subject matter she’s learning at school. If she comes home excited about a project, we discuss what she’s learning and go deeper into why it interests her—understanding what your children like can help you find books they’ll likely enjoy.
Practice patience.
Children need to learn to read at their own pace. If they are frustrated, you can encourage them to take a break and return to a story or book later. Forcing children to read can build resistance and a dislike for it.
Consider alternative resources to traditional books.
My children both have library cards, and we try to visit often, but we also encourage them to choose digital books from apps we’ve loaded onto their tablets. Many of these resources are colorful and interactive and help our daughters associate spoken words with the written words on their screens. Best of all, our daughters don’t have to wait for us to read to them—they can choose books independently and discover what they like to read. When used under parental supervision, vetted digital resources can be valuable in promoting reading and literacy skills.
Try digital apps for engaging reading opportunities.
While it’s natural for parents to be cautious about their children’s screen time, digital devices offer potential in promoting literacy. Recent research has shown that audiobooks and e-books can significantly enhance phonological awareness, vocabulary and spelling development, and reading comprehension.
Of course, not all multimedia resources support literacy. Our family carefully reviewed several digital apps to ensure they were age-appropriate, easy to use, and engaging. We found many libraries and schools already offer carefully vetted apps that children can use at home—for free. Here are a couple of apps we liked.
Kanopy Kids – Because our library subscribes to Kanopy Kids, our daughters can log into the app using their library cards and access hundreds of children’s books and films from their tablets. We can’t always make it to the library, but with this app we can bring the library home to us.
They can choose a title, and a narrator will read the books aloud.
Carefully vetted for parents, Kanopy Kids’ multimedia catalog includes classic tales, stories from around the world, and books that feature their favorite PBS characters.
Its interactive features, such as tapping on words to hear their pronunciation, make it engaging and educational for young readers.
Sora – If your school is one of over 62,000 schools that subscribe to Sora, you can enter your school code to access hundreds of books, comic books, graphic novels, videos, and interactive learning games. Some teachers assign reading to students through the app, but others let kids choose their materials. Some libraries also subscribe to Sora; ask your librarian if you can connect through your library card.
I really like the app’s new “Read to Me” feature that allows kids to highlight a word or sentence they don’t understand. The app will read their selection back to them so they don’t have to stumble over words they don’t know. Kids often get frustrated and put down a book because they don’t understand all the words, but this feature allows them to stretch a little and tackle books that might be a little more challenging.
Sora includes accessibility features that allow kids with visual impairments, learning disabilities, and English language learners to better interact with a wide variety of books and magazines. For example, they can enlarge text, adjust the contrast or narration volume, and even translate titles into several languages.
Most kids, including my own, get motivated by incentives. Sora awards them badges for time spent reading and encourages them to continue. This summer, the app offers its popular summer reading program, Sora Sweet Reads, to encourage kids in K-12 to read all summer. Many kids drop reading altogether after school ends, but the app gives them access to 170 free titles to check out on their own time. Parents can even play audiobooks in the car and encourage literacy during long road trips.
If you’re struggling to get your children to read, encourage them to explore titles and formats that excite them. Promoting literacy at home in any format helps kids continue their reading development. With the right resources, patience, and creativity, parents can inspire their kids to become lifelong readers.
Matt InsleyOverDriveMatt Insley is a Senior Marketing Manager at OverDrive with over 16 years of experience. As a lifelong reader, Matt is passionate about literacy and helping others discover the joy that can come along with reading. He is the proud father to 2 wonderful daughters – ages 8 and 5 – and is married to his college sweetheart (who just happens to be an English teacher).