There are any number of reasons why your child may not be wild about reading:
1) Books he's given are too challenging for him
2) The material doesn't interest him
3) She might have a learning disability like dyslexia
4) Not enough reading role models
5) She's an auditory learner
6) Other options for entertainment are too easily accessible (e.g., video games)
7) He is anxious about it, possibly because Mom or Dad is, too
Whatever the reason for his reluctance, it's a good idea to take a relaxed approach to trying several different approaches to encouraging reading. I have two websites for you and your child to check out. The first is a great one for kids at the very beginning of their reading journey: Starfall. Your child can brush up on phonics and take the focus off her performance by rating the stories she reads. It's completely free!
The second website is from Disney. It offers 600 titles from picture to chapter books. Books can be read to your child or unknown words can be touched and read to them. A dictionary can quickly be accessed, too. Kids love the realistic turning pages. The most innovative part of the program is the intermittent (and unexpected) quizzes that test comprehension and award points. Get a free week trial here without giving your credit card! If you love it, up to three children can read as many books as they'd like for $8.95/month. Very reasonable in my opinion! And nope, I don't get anything for sending you there.
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My oldest son is an artist. He taught himself to read from comic books when he was around 4 y.o. When he began going to school, I was concerned about his obsession with comic books, thinking that they weren’t “educational” enough. I read a great book when he was around six (the name escapes me) about teaching (older) inner city kids the love of reading.
The gist of the book was to allow kids to read whatever they love – if that’s Harlequin Romances, that’s ok. If it’s comic books, that’s ok too. If it’s Harry Potter – that’s ok – whatever floats their boat and gets them reading is what’s important. A person with a love of harlequins might move on to Gone With the Wind. From GWTW, they may move on to Austen and the Brontes. From there, they may move on to Dickens.
He still loves comics (only now it’s manga and Frank what’s his face – the author of 300 and Sin City), still loves art and is almost 22 y.o. Only now he’s graduated to science, economics, philosophy and political science and some books that even I am afraid to tackle.
So re. your above list – I think #2 (interest) is SO important.
My youngest will NOT read fiction. I have given up trying to interest him in it. He will read books about spiders (because I’m phobic of course!) or other bugs or pretty much any other non-fiction subject. The closest to fiction we’ve come is the Scary Stories series, which may appear to be non-fiction for that age group. And for some reason, he is completely okay with reading his several books he likes over – and over – and over – again.
So in my 22 years of parenting kids that turned out to be pretty good readers, I would only suggest that you feed their desires and buy whatever they want. If you’re not sure, take it out of the library. 🙂
I just spoke at a librarians’ conference about online reading being reading, too. It’s reading, not so much the content that matters most. Thanks for your great comment!