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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm going to give a piece of advice about raising readers based on my experience:

You need to read to your kids way more, and way longer, than most people do. You also need to start reading them novel length books earlier.

Most MC and UMC parents read to their kids nightly until school age. But they mostly read picture books, and the tendency is to stop reading on e kids can read a picture book themselves, around K. They might still "read together" but the focus will be on encouraging the child to read to them. I actually think pushing kids to read aloud to parents is when many kids stop enjoying books, because reading aloud is much harder than just reading, and especially for a new reader, it can feel like a chore.

Instead, I would encourage parents to continue to read to their kids, and to start reading chapter books as soon as their kid can tolerate it (choose extremely engaging books so that the lack of pictures will bother them less, and the excitement will sustain interest over multiple nights as you read).

And then keep reading. If you read good, engaging novels to kids, they will develop an interest in reading no matter what. Yes you also separately have to support reading skills. If they aren't getting proper phonics instruction in school, do a program like Hooked on Phonics at home. They need 10-15 minutes a day, minimum, of phonics instruction until it clicks. But that's different from reading for pleasure, and if you want your kids to read independently for pleasure, you have to read to them in a way that shows them how mature, more advanced books can be pleasurable.

I would read TO your kids as long as possible, all the way through elementary ideally. Even after you stop reading to them, I'd suggest keeping up the habit of reading together, and spending 20-30 minutes each evening as a family reading in the same room, even if you are all reading different books. No screens except a e-book reader.

This is what it takes.[/quote]

Sorry doesn't ring true to me. My parents never ever read to me and I devoured books as a kid. Read everything I could get my hands on. I didn't want to be read at or to, I read myself. You can't force kids to love reading. They either do or they don't.[/quote]

I'm the PP and I was like you -- loved to read even though my parents never read to me, was an advanced reader in elementary.

But I went to school in a school system that assigned a lot of novels, forced me to read and think about classic (and challenging) books, and had high expectations for my reading and writing ability. Our kids are not in that environment. Plus they have the distraction of handheld screens everywhere, especially at school.

I also disagree that kids either love reading or don't. Would you say the same about music or movies? Some people just can't watch movies, that's how it is? I think as long as kids can find a way to experience the pure pleasure of reading a really engaging story, they will love it. The problem is that many kids lag behind in reading ability or have learning disorders to overcome, and this makes reading arduous and unpleasant. By the time they are proficient in reading, they have negative associations with reading and don't seek out engaging texts (or resort to graphic novels because they are easier to read) and therefore never "level up" in the kinds of books they read, and just don't experience the pleasure of reading challenging but very engaging literature.

If parents keep reading to kids through elementary, you can fix all these problems. You can provide your kids with the classic and challenging literature that MCPS will not. You can show them what it feels like to read a longer novel start to finish, and the pleasures associated with this task. You can give them a break from their own reading challenges that can make reading feel like a chore, while still building their vocabulary, experiencing advanced story structure, etc.

If people really don't have the time for 30 minutes of reading a night with kids, you could maybe approximate this with audio books. But I think it's better if parents read with kids because I've found that this makes it easier to ensure kids are following the story, to stop and answer questions about what words mean or what is happening, and to ensure the reading material is age appropriate and not too scary or boring.[/quote]

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