University professor here. Perhaps we should reconceive school along the following lines: "a membership to a reading gym that charges you if you don’t show up to a daily class and sweat it out with a bunch of others also wanting to expand their intellectual capacities."
Thank you for this. I started reading to our daughter immediately and we still read at bedtime every night. She is five now. I’m hoping that lifelong pattern will take root for a love of books.
Best thing I ever did with my kids is read to them, and eventually with them, every night. Once I read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings with my son at bedtime - sometimes two chapters a night because he was so enthused - I did not ever have to push him to read again. Yes, he is into computer games and Xbox, but he is also into Nietzsche, Simon Weil, James Baldwin, Shakespeare and beyond.
Thanks for the book recommendations! I always love to see what other families are reading.
Sarah Miller writes a great Substack (“Can We Read?”)with incredibly curated book recs. My kids have loved every single one of her choices! https://canweread.substack.com/
My children love books and I've done a lot of reading aloud, but now that my eldest can read it's been so lovely to see him pulling out books from our (overstuffed) shelves and pore over them when he needs a quiet moment. Now he's learning all sorts of things without me and it's sparking so many interests. I've always been an avid reader so I'm so pleased they've caught the reading bug too!
As a kid who hated reading that is more than making up for it as an adult and father, I loved this. I’m heading on vacation to a lake house in Canada this week and plan to bring a half dozen books to read. While I’m doing my best to lead by example, it’s not yet sticking with them.
My oldest just turned 7 and the other two can’t read yet. So we use a lot of audiobooks in our house. The 7 year old is now able to read more on her own but she enjoys books above her reading level so audiobooks have been an awesome resource. You can also get them from the library! Also being a busy mom who works outside the home too, audiobooks have filled in the gap when I can’t be reading to them. My 4 year old is begging me to teach her to read because she has learned to love books so much through audiobooks. They are also great resource for kids who also might have a hard time learning to read.
That's a great suggestion. I listened to a lot of audiobooks (on tape) when I was a kid, but I haven't done it as much with my own kids. I probably should explore that more.
I would like to explore more audiobooks, my 5 yo is starting to get a bit frustrated about reading because my 7.5 yo is such a strong reader now and can read almost everything he has in mind. I’ve never been big on audiobooks myself but occasionally listen for a memoir when I want to hear the author’s voice. My MIL is great at replenishing their library books according to whatever is going on with them at the time so she helps pick out books every couple weeks. I am going to mention library audiobooks to her as well, thanks for this reminder!
I love to read and I love that my four year old loves books too. I read to him in the hospital when he was born and everyone thought we were craszy. We never leave the house without at least one book for each of us and we head to one of the 54 branches of our city library weekly. We read three books every night at bedtime and bring at least three books when we go out to eat. Our neighborhood has a lot of little libraries, so we can't pass one without taking a look. Yesterday at the co-op, my son asked to check out the free book section in the back and we found some real gems. It feels good to grow a reader because you can never be lonely with a book.
I watch a friend's boys once a month and my son comes along. The boys have tablets and are on them a lot. I am pretty proud that my son will set next to them with their tablet and page through a book! He has never even asked for his own device because there are so many other things to do. Books are magic!
I started reading to my son at birth. He is 9 now and reads everyday for fun. It is actual punishment for him if he can't read at bedtime. He asked for a kindle about a year ago because I read with one. He has kids kindle unlimited and he loves it. He always has a book or his kindle with him.
Yesssss! My 9- and 7-year old frequently blow through weekly library stacks in just a few days, especially now that our Southern summer evenings allow them to keep reading even after "lights out."
My 9YO is the most energetic boy I've ever met, and reading might be the only thing that truly calms him down. It's a beautiful thing.
I don’t have any independent readers yet, but we read aloud multiple times each day—often during meals like breakfast and lunch. It helps my boys to stay at the table and actually finish their meal (a difficult task for little kids!) and we read *so many books* that way. And I will echo what you said about keeping the options fresh: we have a sizable home library, but I absolutely depend on the public library (and good book lists) to keep my boys excited about reading. My youngest just entered of my favorite stages of babyhood: he routinely grabs board books off of the shelf and brings them to my husband or me to read to him. It’s not only adorable but indicative to me that we really do have a culture of reading in our home.
What a great piece. Love the suggestions, especially the one to model the desired behavior for your kids. I saw my parents reading regularly too, and they recommended books to me constantly (sometimes without meaning to; I picked up my dad’s copy of Jurassic Park when I was 9 or 10, and by the time he found out I was reading it, it was too late to stop me!)
I’m so thankful I grew up without digital devices and therefore had the time and space to cultivate a love for reading. It’s so hard now to hold the blue light at bay, but I also know that nothing pulls you in like a book. My parents love to tell the story of how, engrossed in Grimm’s fairy tales, I left the bathwater running until it overflowed and ran through the floor into the downstairs hallway. I’m so glad it was a book and not an iPad.
University professor here. Perhaps we should reconceive school along the following lines: "a membership to a reading gym that charges you if you don’t show up to a daily class and sweat it out with a bunch of others also wanting to expand their intellectual capacities."
Thank you for this. I started reading to our daughter immediately and we still read at bedtime every night. She is five now. I’m hoping that lifelong pattern will take root for a love of books.
Best thing I ever did with my kids is read to them, and eventually with them, every night. Once I read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings with my son at bedtime - sometimes two chapters a night because he was so enthused - I did not ever have to push him to read again. Yes, he is into computer games and Xbox, but he is also into Nietzsche, Simon Weil, James Baldwin, Shakespeare and beyond.
Thanks for the book recommendations! I always love to see what other families are reading.
Sarah Miller writes a great Substack (“Can We Read?”)with incredibly curated book recs. My kids have loved every single one of her choices! https://canweread.substack.com/
What a great resource! Thanks for sharing.
We live in a country without libraries, so we don't have that option but we do try to have an effectively unlimited book buying budget.
Just cutting out a few subscription services pays for a lot of books each month.
My children love books and I've done a lot of reading aloud, but now that my eldest can read it's been so lovely to see him pulling out books from our (overstuffed) shelves and pore over them when he needs a quiet moment. Now he's learning all sorts of things without me and it's sparking so many interests. I've always been an avid reader so I'm so pleased they've caught the reading bug too!
As a kid who hated reading that is more than making up for it as an adult and father, I loved this. I’m heading on vacation to a lake house in Canada this week and plan to bring a half dozen books to read. While I’m doing my best to lead by example, it’s not yet sticking with them.
My oldest just turned 7 and the other two can’t read yet. So we use a lot of audiobooks in our house. The 7 year old is now able to read more on her own but she enjoys books above her reading level so audiobooks have been an awesome resource. You can also get them from the library! Also being a busy mom who works outside the home too, audiobooks have filled in the gap when I can’t be reading to them. My 4 year old is begging me to teach her to read because she has learned to love books so much through audiobooks. They are also great resource for kids who also might have a hard time learning to read.
That's a great suggestion. I listened to a lot of audiobooks (on tape) when I was a kid, but I haven't done it as much with my own kids. I probably should explore that more.
I would like to explore more audiobooks, my 5 yo is starting to get a bit frustrated about reading because my 7.5 yo is such a strong reader now and can read almost everything he has in mind. I’ve never been big on audiobooks myself but occasionally listen for a memoir when I want to hear the author’s voice. My MIL is great at replenishing their library books according to whatever is going on with them at the time so she helps pick out books every couple weeks. I am going to mention library audiobooks to her as well, thanks for this reminder!
I love to read and I love that my four year old loves books too. I read to him in the hospital when he was born and everyone thought we were craszy. We never leave the house without at least one book for each of us and we head to one of the 54 branches of our city library weekly. We read three books every night at bedtime and bring at least three books when we go out to eat. Our neighborhood has a lot of little libraries, so we can't pass one without taking a look. Yesterday at the co-op, my son asked to check out the free book section in the back and we found some real gems. It feels good to grow a reader because you can never be lonely with a book.
I watch a friend's boys once a month and my son comes along. The boys have tablets and are on them a lot. I am pretty proud that my son will set next to them with their tablet and page through a book! He has never even asked for his own device because there are so many other things to do. Books are magic!
"You can never be lonely with a book." Beautiful quote. Thanks for sharing.
Great post. Absolutely agree that having books around and a culture of going to the library, for instance, really helps.
I think the most powerful of the suggestions is reading yourself - ultimately they'll do not as you tell them to do, but as they see you doing
I started reading to my son at birth. He is 9 now and reads everyday for fun. It is actual punishment for him if he can't read at bedtime. He asked for a kindle about a year ago because I read with one. He has kids kindle unlimited and he loves it. He always has a book or his kindle with him.
Yesssss! My 9- and 7-year old frequently blow through weekly library stacks in just a few days, especially now that our Southern summer evenings allow them to keep reading even after "lights out."
My 9YO is the most energetic boy I've ever met, and reading might be the only thing that truly calms him down. It's a beautiful thing.
I don’t have any independent readers yet, but we read aloud multiple times each day—often during meals like breakfast and lunch. It helps my boys to stay at the table and actually finish their meal (a difficult task for little kids!) and we read *so many books* that way. And I will echo what you said about keeping the options fresh: we have a sizable home library, but I absolutely depend on the public library (and good book lists) to keep my boys excited about reading. My youngest just entered of my favorite stages of babyhood: he routinely grabs board books off of the shelf and brings them to my husband or me to read to him. It’s not only adorable but indicative to me that we really do have a culture of reading in our home.
What a great piece. Love the suggestions, especially the one to model the desired behavior for your kids. I saw my parents reading regularly too, and they recommended books to me constantly (sometimes without meaning to; I picked up my dad’s copy of Jurassic Park when I was 9 or 10, and by the time he found out I was reading it, it was too late to stop me!)
I’m so thankful I grew up without digital devices and therefore had the time and space to cultivate a love for reading. It’s so hard now to hold the blue light at bay, but I also know that nothing pulls you in like a book. My parents love to tell the story of how, engrossed in Grimm’s fairy tales, I left the bathwater running until it overflowed and ran through the floor into the downstairs hallway. I’m so glad it was a book and not an iPad.