My daughter has always been reluctant to do activities when she doesn’t feel like she’s an expert in that activity. Walking, for instance: she started walking at 18 months after furniture walking forever. Finally, I just took her hands and started walking her around. When she realized that she could do it without falling down, she was hooked.
Our dance class was a different experience. We had a wonderful teacher who really worked with my daughter to help her learn how to do challenging things like putting one leg behind the other. And it was challenging. My daughter finally realized that she had a lot more difficulty with this than the other children did, and so she quit. Of course, we still do kitchen dance parties, and that is the most important dancing of all.
This is why I am reluctant to press reading too hard. When pressed, my child revolts and refuses. I can cajole and plead a little, but not too much. My daughter sees a long sentence and gets worried that she will not be able to read all of it, so she quits before she begins.
What can you do if you have a reluctant reader?
Make it easy. Choose books like the Bob books, ones with short, simple words and sentences. I like our phonics program because it encourages children to read one word at a time at first.
Read to your child. After all, the reason you want your child to read is so that she will be functional in the world, but it’s also to get pleasure and information from books. Reading to your child confirms that reading is about pleasure and new learning.
Play games with words. Get word flashcards and use them to build sentences, then make silly stories out of the sentences. Make a treasure hunt around the house and use simple words and phrases as clues. Create true or false sentences and use words to solve the puzzle. Do word search puzzles – these are a big favourite in our house lately. Games are fun, so turn the hard task into a game.
Write. Writing and reading are companions, and sometimes children are more motivated to write than to read. However, to write they need to sound out words, and that’s part of reading. It may be a circuitous route, but if it works, write away!
What are your tips for helping your reluctant reader?
Image courtesy of mazwebs at Stock Exchange.