The Gift of Pleasure Reading
One of the greatest gifts that we can give our children is the gift of reading. The ability to read and enjoy a piece of written material goes a long way in ensuring an individual’s ability to become a life long learner and to lead a successful and fulfilling life. Probably the most profound way that parents can help in this endeavor is to model for their children their own reading habits. Reading a cookbook, magazine, newspaper or comic book is as beneficial as reading a novel. I firmly believe that any pleasure reading is good reading. We are individuals and we know that one size does not fit all; this applies to reading, too. It is absolutely fine if your child prefers to spend their pleasure reading time reading comics or baseball stats- the important piece is that he or she is reading. I have listed some other tried and true strategies for helping your child develop the reading habit below: Get a library card with your child and make weekly visits Create a literature rich environment with many different types of reading materials Get your child a subscription to a magazine that he or she would enjoy Engage your child in “reading games” such as search-a-words, crossword puzzles and Scrabble Read out loud as a family during a meal Put a flashlight by your child’s bed for reading Give and request books as gifts |
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