Do you want to get your kids excited about reading? If so, get ready for the countdown: ten days of ideas that will get you and yours into reading!
You’ve always wanted to be a model. Thankfully, this modeling gig requires very few runway-strutting skills and a lot of books.
That’s right: you too can be a reading model. From the beginning, show your children that reading is worthwhile. It’s all too tempting to do the things that need to be done around the house and forget to sit down and read. I get that. I do it all of the time. However, what your children see you do is important. And when your children see you enjoying what you do, that’s even more important. So sit down, read, and enjoy it! That tells them that reading is a pleasurable and relaxing activity.
How can you be a cool reading model for your kids?
Sit down and read for a few moments every day. Do this when your children are awake so that they can see you reading. Yes, we often place our pleasurable activities later in the day when the kids have gone to bed. However, if you do this, your children will never see you reading!
Have a home library and a stack of books on the bedside table. Go to the library regularly with the kids, and take out books together. Libraries are not just for kids!
Bring books on vacation. Read a book at the beach, or sit on the couch and read as the kids are playing.
Go to book-related events, such as plays and writers’ festivals. Research authors that you enjoy or that your kids enjoy, and find out where you can see them!
Read the books that your children are reading. As they grow older, you might enjoy the same books. Suggest book series to your kids.
Talk about the books that you’re enjoying. My daughter’s particularly impressed with the size of the 800-page book I’m reading right now, since she’s just gotten into early readers.
Besides the groovy shades, what do you do to be a cool reader?