Reading books starts out as something purely for pleasure. When our children are small, we read wonderful, colorful storybooks full of rhymes and rhythmic words and delightful stories. Once a child starts school, reading becomes increasingly about “work”—the work of academics. There are more and more books that HAVE to be read and, before long, a child who loved to read might turn into someone who dreads and hates it. While some children are just naturally passionate and voracious readers, some might need some encouragement to continue reading for pleasure as they move through the upper elementary, middle school and high school years.
Keep in mind that the average school-age child does a great deal of HAVE TO reading for school. Although I have not done a scientific study, as the mother of three teenagers, I do think that my children have generally heavier course and work loads than I did when I was in school. The important thing about encouraging pleasure reading is that is should be anything the child wants to read in order to get them back into it—this means comic books, magazines, young adult fiction, short-stories, whatever. It can be tempting to want our children to dig into the “classics” and worry when they aren’t. But if they are doing a lot of academic reading, letting them experience some pleasure in reading whatever they really want to will help them to feel some ownership in their personal reading.
Summers can be a great time to do some leisure reading. Make sure your older child has a library card of his or her own and you might even consider giving gift cards to the book store as a periodic gift. This way, he or she can go to the store and pick out reading materials that are of personal interest and have the autonomy and independence to do so. As children age, it becomes increasingly important that they get to be in charge of their own interests. If you want reading to be a life-long passion, you will need to encourage your child while letting him or her take ownership of reading for pleasure.
See Also: You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You
Encouraging Reading–Why Not Read to the Cat?