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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][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]

NP - no, that's not what it takes.  There's research on this stuff.  I'm not discouraging anyone from reading to or with their kids, but this level of investment in reading isn't necessary for most kids to become strong readers.  They don't need to love reading for pleasure, because reading for pleasure isn't a virtue.  Good for you, glad all this worked for your kids, but for all the parents of young kids who read this and think, there's no way I could do all that, you don't have to.

You DO need to pay attention to how well your kids are reading and if they're struggling still in first grade, do something about that.  [/quote]

Reading for pleasure may not be a virtue, but it sure is a good way for them to accelerate their reading ability.[/quote]

Sure.  But that reading regimen is extreme, said as someone who loves reading for pleasure, and has from a young age.  Kids have other interests, families do other things.  Again, I'm all for reading - but what's described is one person's experience.  There are other ways to increase the chance that kids read for pleasure that don't involve extended parental involvement.[/quote]

I thought the main point of the post was that reading to/with kids beyond the early childhood years is important.  Is that extended parental involvement?  Is that not typical?[/quote]

You think it's typical that parents read novels to their kids through elementary school?  Daily?  That a family reading for 30 minutes together in the same room, also daily, is typical?  Seriously?
[/quote]

I don’t think family reading is typical, but yes I absolutely thought UMC parents were reading novels to their elementary age kids.  We do, our parents did, our friends did and do.  Happy to be corrected in my impression but yes I’m shocked if this isn’t typical.[/quote]

Shocked?  Lol.

We're UMC.  I even have a Ph.D., go figure!  DH and I read to all of our kids from a very young age, some novels to our oldest especially - because we had the time - but that petered out as they got older.  Maybe by first or second grade?  We put them to bed by sitting and talking about their days or whatever else.  If they wanted a book, sure, but frankly by the time our older two were in second grade, they wanted to read themselves in bed.  They're in eighth and sixth grades now and most nights, we have to tell them to put the book down and go to bed.

As I noted in a different post, our youngest has dyslexia, so we do still read to him nightly (he's in fourth).  I hope someday he'll want to read for pleasure, but he's wired differently.

My larger point is that, no, most kids do not need years and years of being read to to become strong readers.  I've seen that very clearly, up-front, with two kids who learned to read with no special intervention and one who struggles mightily, despite being a super smart kid.  Would more kids benefit from being read to for longer?  Sure.  But that's not what's being discussed in this thread.[/quote]

That actually makes more sense to me and is less shocking, lol.  PP had claimed that parents were abandoning reading aloud to kids once kids could read *at all* and advocated for nightly novel reading.  If kids are picking up the nightly novel reading without parental involvement, I don’t think many people are going to find a deficit there.[/quote]

To my understanding, PPs were advocating for reading novels to your kid throughout elementary school, i.e., well past the age when most kids can read at all, let alone read novels.

My issue is with anyone who insists that regular family novel reading for the duration of elementary school, is *required* ("what it takes") for kids to become strong readers.  It's not.  It's both too much for most kids and not enough for some kids.  Those with dyslexia need much more structured intervention than being read to, even if what's being read to them are novels.  In fact, this idealized vision of cozy reading being What Kids Need *doesn't* align with evidence-based reading instruction, but it's what a lot of educators thought was needed before the Sold a Story podcast and some other information came to light.[/quote]

If you read the original post, it talks about how obviously kids also need to be taught HOW to read, and doesn't claim that reading to your kids will help them learn to read. Kids have to be taught to read using a phonics-based curriculum, all kids should be tested for dyslexia and other IDs in 1st grade or thereabouts and provided with additional support to overcome those challenges. No one is suggesting you can will those problems away by reading to them.

The point is that in order to acquire a love books and a will (and stamina) to read full novels on their own, they need to experience what that looks like, and the best way for kids to acquire that experience is for their parents to read them full novels. Otherwise your kid may never even attempt to read a novel as difficult as, say, Little Women or Lord of the Rings, because they will initially find the language difficult and they will have no experience with the extremely big payoff to sticking with it.

I also don't think 30 minutes of being read to by a parent is "too much" for any kid. In what way? If it's a good book, they will enjoy it. Heck, I listen to audio books as an adult all the time. No one is harmed by being read to. It's pleasurable.[/quote]

I don't disagree with some of what you wrote.  I do think the original PP I responded to implied that, yes, you DO need to read to your kids, a lot, and for a long time in addition to evidence-based reading instruction.  "This is what it takes."  And, no, many kids do NOT need to read to your kids for years in order for them to become great readers.

Where's the research on what's needed to acquire a love of books?  You and others are posting opinions, but little evidence.  I think a lot of parents who love to read want their children to also love to read, to the point of thinking that's something they can control.

Also, no one said anyone is harmed by being read to.  Suggesting parents MUST read to their kids for 30 minutes a night, through elementary school, on top of work and homework and activities and sports and family dinner and everything else we're supposed to do - or else our kids won't become good readers - isn't reasonable.[/quote]

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