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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I can barely get my 14 year old DC to [b]stop[/b] 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![/quote]

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 [/quote]

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.[/quote]

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