How do you get your teens to read for pleasure?

[Anonymous]

Write an op ed for the NYT blaming Zuckerberg and Cook for your poor parenting skills. Honestly throw the iPhone and iPad in the trash. They rot a developing brain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to get DD a subscription to Teen Vogue. They have really great articles.

Seriously, they've really stepped up to the plate on political issues recently. Teen Vogue, who knew?

[Anonymous]

I'm afraid I just nag my DD and take away her electronics and tell her she must read. She complies. I will also note that I NEVER read for pleasure until after I graduated from college. But I graduated Phi Betta Kapp from an elite liberal arts school. Some active, extroverted kids just are not natural readers, I now read for pleasure plenty and I do as PP suggested, read the same books my kids are reading. That's fun!

[Anonymous]

How old is your kid?

I am a reader now (as an adult) but I probably didn't read that much for pleasure in high school even though I was in honors and AP English classes. I really had a lot to read related to school and didn't feel like reading much for pleasure outside of that. We had books we had to read over the summer for school and I did that but wanted a break otherwise.

[Anonymous]

^^ I did read magazines like 17 and YM so maybe magazines are a good suggestion.

[Anonymous]

Why is this important to you? Be honest with yourself about your goals. If it's forced, it's not really "for pleasure". Unless it's actively harmful, I think what a kid does for fun should be their choice. Reading might be a good thing to encourage for a variety of reasons, but is it really important whether or not someone does it for fun in their free time as long as they do it when necessary?

[Anonymous]

I can barely get my 14 year old DC to stop reading! She reads every night, some mornings, and in the car (makes a 45 min drive frequently). The trick is to find a book that's worth reading, not usually comic books, graphic novels, or cliché YA fantasy books/romance novels, while there are some good books in the aforementioned genres; many are prone to have predictable plots, poor writing, and one dimensional characters. Some of DC's friends like these, but my child finds them boring. Try to step out of the box a little, my DC LOVES 19th Russian Literature, Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky are two of her favorite authors. That said, my DS often reproaches herself for reading fiction instead of non fiction, but any reading is good reading, so don't discourage reading fiction. If your teen wishes to read nonfiction, sometimes some light reading to read at the same time is helpful. For example, my DC is reading a Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution, but also Demons (by Dostoyevsky) to give her mind a break. As I was saying before, don't limit your teen to the convention choices she/he is supposed to enjoy. Don't forbid books because they are scandalous or subversive, and encourage your teen to explore the wonderful world of literature. Constraining your teen to typical young adult books makes for a stale reading experience. I hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can barely get my 14 year old DC to stop reading! She reads every night, some mornings, and in the car (makes a 45 min drive frequently). The trick is to find a book that's worth reading, not usually comic books, graphic novels, or cliché YA fantasy books/romance novels, while there are some good books in the aforementioned genres; many are prone to have predictable plots, poor writing, and one dimensional characters. Some of DC's friends like these, but my child finds them boring. Try to step out of the box a little, my DC LOVES 19th Russian Literature, Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky are two of her favorite authors. That said, my DS often reproaches herself for reading fiction instead of non fiction, but any reading is good reading, so don't discourage reading fiction. If your teen wishes to read nonfiction, sometimes some light reading to read at the same time is helpful. For example, my DC is reading a Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution, but also Demons (by Dostoyevsky) to give her mind a break. As I was saying before, don't limit your teen to the convention choices she/he is supposed to enjoy. Don't forbid books because they are scandalous or subversive, and encourage your teen to explore the wonderful world of literature. Constraining your teen to typical young adult books makes for a stale reading experience. I hope this helps!

OP here. thanks for the tips. To the poster who asked why is this important to me? I didn't want to answer this at first, but honestly, why wouldn't that be important to a parent? The love of reading enriches your mind, young and old and I refuse to let these kids game all day long and be okay with that. Encouraging them to read something they enjoy -- not forcing- but helping them discover knowledge, literature, stories.. I'll stop there

[Anonymous]

OP -I think it might depend on the issues you are trying to fix, actually. I have one DS that really does not read for pleasure. I'm sad because I read for pleasure and I feel like he is missing out. Plus I think it would make him a better student/test taker. But, he's not.

On the other hand, he does not play video games very often. We do not have a gaming system so it's just some silly games on his phone and not very often. He has non-screen time interests (music mainly) that occupy his time when I assume others are reading. I don't try to make him read as I feel like he is using his brain differently but still good.

My other DS is a pretty good reader and reads daily for pleasure. He also loves video games and plays games on his phone all the time that I let him. So, the issue really isn't reading, at least for my kids. If you are trying to fix something, it is good to figure out what you are trying to fix.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can barely get my 14 year old DC to stop reading! She reads every night, some mornings, and in the car (makes a 45 min drive frequently). The trick is to find a book that's worth reading, not usually comic books, graphic novels, or cliché YA fantasy books/romance novels, while there are some good books in the aforementioned genres; many are prone to have predictable plots, poor writing, and one dimensional characters. Some of DC's friends like these, but my child finds them boring. Try to step out of the box a little, my DC LOVES 19th Russian Literature, Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky are two of her favorite authors. That said, my DS often reproaches herself for reading fiction instead of non fiction, but any reading is good reading, so don't discourage reading fiction. If your teen wishes to read nonfiction, sometimes some light reading to read at the same time is helpful. For example, my DC is reading a Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution, but also Demons (by Dostoyevsky) to give her mind a break. As I was saying before, don't limit your teen to the convention choices she/he is supposed to enjoy. Don't forbid books because they are scandalous or subversive, and encourage your teen to explore the wonderful world of literature. Constraining your teen to typical young adult books makes for a stale reading experience. I hope this helps!

OP here. thanks for the tips. To the poster who asked why is this important to me? I didn't want to answer this at first, but honestly, why wouldn't that be important to a parent? The love of reading enriches your mind, young and old and I refuse to let these kids game all day long and be okay with that. Encouraging them to read something they enjoy -- not forcing- but helping them discover knowledge, literature, stories.. I'll stop there

I get that reading is useful, and that being able to do it well is important, but if your teen already has reading comprehension skills at a level sufficient for them to meet their future educational and professional goals, I guess I'm just confused by the goal of getting them to read for pleasure. Different people have different interests and it would just never occur to me to care if my child didn't enjoy a specific hobby or to try to insist on getting them to like it.

[Anonymous]

Not the OP and I have one reluctant reader who is much more of an athlete and an extrovert. But I know that the benefits of leisure are very well documented. A quick google search will find several references. Here is one interesting list. http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/10-benefits-reading-why-you-should-read-everyday.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to get DD a subscription to Teen Vogue. They have really great articles.

Seriously, they've really stepped up to the plate on political issues recently. Teen Vogue, who knew?

Well they had a large article on how to have anal sex in their July issue, so keep that it mind.

[Anonymous]

It starts when they're toddlers. If they are read to often, and more importantly, if they see you reading for pleasure often, they will become readers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It starts when they're toddlers. If they are read to often, and more importantly, if they see you reading for pleasure often, they will become readers

They are more likely to become readers, yes. But that doesn't mean that you can stop encouraging reading at age 4, or 10, or 14. It also doesn't mean that they wont' take a break in HS before eventually growing up to be readers as adults.

[Anonymous]

By example.