Reading can be a great way to improve your quality of life in ways that you might not have even considered. Reading doesn't just make you smarter by enhancing your literacy skills. Having access to information from our favorite book series, blogs, magazines, etc., may help you find a job or choose your romantic partner more wisely. Obtaining a well-paid job gives people an opportunity for professional satisfaction while allowing them to have better living standards. Most parents are concerned about the well-being of their children when they turn adults. What matters most to them is that their child selects a good partner for life, has excellent health and has a good standard of living. When parents notice that their kids are unmotivated when reading, this may cause inner anxiety because they are aware of the importance of literacy for success in life. It may feel like your worst nightmare when your child is unmotivated to read or struggles with reading in school. Still, there are ways that you, as a parent, can help avoid the long-term effects of low literacy (low-paid jobs, low quality of life, and poor health).
As a professional tutor, Academic Coach, and teacher, I often hear from parents that their child is unmotivated to read. They also often tell me that they have tried reading logs, buying books their child may be interested in (without asking them), pressuring their child, suggesting books that they read when they were young, etc., without success. There may be many underlying reasons why your child may be unmotivated to read.
Many students lack the foundational skills of phonics, letter sounds, and decoding skills to read words. When a child does not have a strong foundation in understanding how letters make sounds and how those sounds blend to make words, they may struggle. If your child is constantly struggling to read every other word on the page, it slows them down and prevents them from understanding what they are reading. As a result, reading becomes a chore instead of an enjoyable experience. As a parent, you can find out if your child understands phonics and has the decoding skills by speaking to their teacher, looking at their grades in reading on their report card, and observing your child as they read. You can also have a reading professional complete a comprehensive reading assessment to determine what skills your child is lacking.
After ensuring that your child has solid foundational reading skills, your next step is aiding your child in selecting "right-fit books." A right-fit book is a book that your child can enjoy reading on their own. This is essential. If your child cannot decode the words in books, this will lead to frustration and stop them from reading. You may have observed that when your child is encouraged to select a book, they may look at the pictures and not realize that the content may be too advanced (in terms of semantic difficulty and syntactic complexity) for their current understanding of phonetics. Yes, you want your child to be challenged, but in small increments beyond where they are right now. Reading the right books helps your child develop as a reader. To find a book that is the right fit for your child, try using the finger test. Turn to the page in the middle of the book. As your child reads, hold up a finger for every word, they do not know. If you hold up only one finger by the end of the page, that is an easy book for your child to read. If you hold up two fingers, this book is a good choice for your child. If you hold up three fingers, they might need some help, but it is still a good choice. The book may be too difficult to read and understand without your assistance if you hold up four fingers. If you hold up five fingers or more, the book is probably too difficult for your child to read.
Having a reading corner in a quiet area of your home decorated to their liking, including a small chair or a pillow so that they are comfortable and sitting upright, may encourage your child to read more. Make sure the area is well-lit and provide your child's beverage of choice, such as water. Have many books at their disposal for them to read. If your child prefers music in the background, make sure that it is instrumental music to avoid distractions. Studies published by Cambridge Sound Management have shown that music (especially classical, meditative music, and nature sounds) boosts your child's concentration and productivity. If your child prefers other genres, during the next reading time, play around with various tunes to figure out which one they like, aiming for 50–80 beats per minute (BPM). Spotify has already helped you out by creating a studying playlist titled "60 BPM Baroque and Study". Check it out!
Encourage your child to read more, create a reading list of books from each genre. Have the first book on this list be exciting and engaging, so they'll want to continue down through it until they've gone through all of them! To help you find great ideas for what genres might interest your kids most (and provide some variety), I have provided some suggestions below.
Non-fiction Genres:
As a tutor with an advanced degree, I hear from parents all the time that their child's reading skills and motivation to read increased just after a few reading sessions. They see themselves as more confident when they pick up books independently without you as their parent begging them to read. Having tutors work with your child during this process can provide many benefits, including motivating them to be better readers! Tutoring is a great way to make up for any lost skills; however, you must choose the right tutor. Trained tutors provide academic structure and help children skip grades if needed to "catch them back up." Leaving your child with just anyone can create skill deficits that will deteriorate as time passes. Those gaps will become evident when they start Upper Elementary School or Middle School, and those are not easy years!
Have you ever tried to help your child with their homework, only for it to end in tears (maybe on both of your parts)? Many parents often complain about their child telling them something their teacher said as if they had heard it for the first time even though the parents told them the same thing many times before. There is a reason that a child is more likely to listen to another adult, as they see you as a parent, not a teacher. Thus, when working with a trained tutor, your child will benefit from the "third party effect," which will increase the potential for retaining the information while avoiding tantrums. Another benefit of having a trained tutor is that it allows you to remain in the parent role, which your child understands. You will talk to them about what is being learned and share their success from a parent's perspective. Finally, tutoring dramatically decreases the stress for both you and your child.
Reading is a wonderful experience. Reading is also beneficial for enhancing memory. When you read stories about events like those in your life, these memories become more vivid. In addition, reading improves focus by giving kids something else to do besides watching TV or playing computer games (however fun). While providing great entertainment, reading also enhances writing skills. As noted earlier, your concern as a parent that your child is unmotivated to read is understandable. Still, you can address this issue by finding the gaps in their reading skills, providing decorated reading nooks at home, and/or buying them books they like. All these strategies are proven to increase children's motivation to read. Still, foundational reading skills are essential for a child's success. Are you looking for ways to eliminate arguing with your child when you assist them with their reading homework? Then please go to www.mychildwillcomprehend.com. Check out the tips and strategies I give parents to help them reduce their stress when helping their children with their reading homework.
Aquilah Robinson is a teacher, online tutor, Academic Coach, and CEO of Learnplistic Tutors. She holds a Master’s degree in Behavior and Learning Disabilities from Georgia State University. She has been working in education as a teacher for over ten years. In addition to teaching full-time, Aquilah has a passion for helping kids become better readers and is the founder of Learnplistic, LLC. Learnplistic, LLC is a tutoring and educational services company that administers reading assessments to determine what may be hindering a child from excelling in reading. Through her proprietary system, Ms. Robinson creates customized reading plans so that children become confident readers. Learnplistic Tutors provides private tutoring and has group reading programs. In her free time, Aquilah relaxes by doing crotchet, keeping house plants, and going to the theatre. She enjoys many different foods, with Caribbean and Indian being among her favorites. She fulfilled a lifelong ambition when she visited South Africa a few years ago. When she feels like getting out of her comfort zone, Aquilah likes to push herself to do something adventurous and has taken part in zip lining and white water rafting in the past. Aquilah’s goal is to help young children develop their reading skills and become confident and assured readers who can tackle anything put in front of them. You can find out more about what Aquilah is doing at www.learnplistic.com.
As a professional tutor, Academic Coach, and teacher, I often hear from parents that their child is unmotivated to read. They also often tell me that they have tried reading logs, buying books their child may be interested in (without asking them), pressuring their child, suggesting books that they read when they were young, etc., without success. There may be many underlying reasons why your child may be unmotivated to read.
Many students lack the foundational skills of phonics, letter sounds, and decoding skills to read words. When a child does not have a strong foundation in understanding how letters make sounds and how those sounds blend to make words, they may struggle. If your child is constantly struggling to read every other word on the page, it slows them down and prevents them from understanding what they are reading. As a result, reading becomes a chore instead of an enjoyable experience. As a parent, you can find out if your child understands phonics and has the decoding skills by speaking to their teacher, looking at their grades in reading on their report card, and observing your child as they read. You can also have a reading professional complete a comprehensive reading assessment to determine what skills your child is lacking.
After ensuring that your child has solid foundational reading skills, your next step is aiding your child in selecting "right-fit books." A right-fit book is a book that your child can enjoy reading on their own. This is essential. If your child cannot decode the words in books, this will lead to frustration and stop them from reading. You may have observed that when your child is encouraged to select a book, they may look at the pictures and not realize that the content may be too advanced (in terms of semantic difficulty and syntactic complexity) for their current understanding of phonetics. Yes, you want your child to be challenged, but in small increments beyond where they are right now. Reading the right books helps your child develop as a reader. To find a book that is the right fit for your child, try using the finger test. Turn to the page in the middle of the book. As your child reads, hold up a finger for every word, they do not know. If you hold up only one finger by the end of the page, that is an easy book for your child to read. If you hold up two fingers, this book is a good choice for your child. If you hold up three fingers, they might need some help, but it is still a good choice. The book may be too difficult to read and understand without your assistance if you hold up four fingers. If you hold up five fingers or more, the book is probably too difficult for your child to read.
Having a reading corner in a quiet area of your home decorated to their liking, including a small chair or a pillow so that they are comfortable and sitting upright, may encourage your child to read more. Make sure the area is well-lit and provide your child's beverage of choice, such as water. Have many books at their disposal for them to read. If your child prefers music in the background, make sure that it is instrumental music to avoid distractions. Studies published by Cambridge Sound Management have shown that music (especially classical, meditative music, and nature sounds) boosts your child's concentration and productivity. If your child prefers other genres, during the next reading time, play around with various tunes to figure out which one they like, aiming for 50–80 beats per minute (BPM). Spotify has already helped you out by creating a studying playlist titled "60 BPM Baroque and Study". Check it out!
Encourage your child to read more, create a reading list of books from each genre. Have the first book on this list be exciting and engaging, so they'll want to continue down through it until they've gone through all of them! To help you find great ideas for what genres might interest your kids most (and provide some variety), I have provided some suggestions below.
- Action and Adventure
- The Hobbit by J.R. Tolkien
- The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
- Life of Pi by Yann Martel
- Anthology
- The Poets of Laureate Anthology by Elizabeth Hun Schmidt
- Classic
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- 1984 y George Orwell
- Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
- Comic and Graphic Novel
- V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
- Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller
- Saga by Brian Vaughan
- Crime and Detective
- Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
- And There Were None by Agatha Christie
- Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
- Drama
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare
- Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett
- Fable
- The Lion and The Mouse by Aesop
- The Fox and The Grapes by Aesop
- Fairytale
- Hansel and Gretel by Engelbart and Humperdinck
- Rapunzel by Brothers Grimm
- Beauty and the Beast by Gabrielle – Suzzanne de Villeneuve
- Fantasy
- Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
- The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
- A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
- Historical Fiction
- Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
- The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
- A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
- Mystery
- The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
- The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
- Angel and Demons by Dan Brown
- Mythology
- Young Zeus by Brian Karas
- Heroes in Training series by Joan Holub
- Science-fiction (Sci-Fi)
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- The Martian by Andy Weir
- Dune by Frank Herbert
- Suspense / Thriller
- The Girl in the Headlines
- Prom House
Non-fiction Genres:
- Biography
- I am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World by Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick
- Unbroken: An Olympians Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive by Laura Hillenbrand
- The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Brian Mealer
- Autobiography
- Reaching for the Moon: The Autobiography of NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson
- The Reason I Jump: One Boy’s Voice from the Silence of Autism
- Courage to Soar by Simone Biles
- The Autobiography of W.E.B. DuBois
- The Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
- Essay
- The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
- Memoir
- Gone to the Woods by Gary Paulsen
- Someone Like Me: How One Undocumented Girl Fought Her American Dream by Julissa Arce
- Becoming Kareem: Growing Up On and Off the Court by Kareem Abdul – Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld
As a tutor with an advanced degree, I hear from parents all the time that their child's reading skills and motivation to read increased just after a few reading sessions. They see themselves as more confident when they pick up books independently without you as their parent begging them to read. Having tutors work with your child during this process can provide many benefits, including motivating them to be better readers! Tutoring is a great way to make up for any lost skills; however, you must choose the right tutor. Trained tutors provide academic structure and help children skip grades if needed to "catch them back up." Leaving your child with just anyone can create skill deficits that will deteriorate as time passes. Those gaps will become evident when they start Upper Elementary School or Middle School, and those are not easy years!
Have you ever tried to help your child with their homework, only for it to end in tears (maybe on both of your parts)? Many parents often complain about their child telling them something their teacher said as if they had heard it for the first time even though the parents told them the same thing many times before. There is a reason that a child is more likely to listen to another adult, as they see you as a parent, not a teacher. Thus, when working with a trained tutor, your child will benefit from the "third party effect," which will increase the potential for retaining the information while avoiding tantrums. Another benefit of having a trained tutor is that it allows you to remain in the parent role, which your child understands. You will talk to them about what is being learned and share their success from a parent's perspective. Finally, tutoring dramatically decreases the stress for both you and your child.
Reading is a wonderful experience. Reading is also beneficial for enhancing memory. When you read stories about events like those in your life, these memories become more vivid. In addition, reading improves focus by giving kids something else to do besides watching TV or playing computer games (however fun). While providing great entertainment, reading also enhances writing skills. As noted earlier, your concern as a parent that your child is unmotivated to read is understandable. Still, you can address this issue by finding the gaps in their reading skills, providing decorated reading nooks at home, and/or buying them books they like. All these strategies are proven to increase children's motivation to read. Still, foundational reading skills are essential for a child's success. Are you looking for ways to eliminate arguing with your child when you assist them with their reading homework? Then please go to www.mychildwillcomprehend.com. Check out the tips and strategies I give parents to help them reduce their stress when helping their children with their reading homework.
Aquilah Robinson is a teacher, online tutor, Academic Coach, and CEO of Learnplistic Tutors. She holds a Master’s degree in Behavior and Learning Disabilities from Georgia State University. She has been working in education as a teacher for over ten years. In addition to teaching full-time, Aquilah has a passion for helping kids become better readers and is the founder of Learnplistic, LLC. Learnplistic, LLC is a tutoring and educational services company that administers reading assessments to determine what may be hindering a child from excelling in reading. Through her proprietary system, Ms. Robinson creates customized reading plans so that children become confident readers. Learnplistic Tutors provides private tutoring and has group reading programs. In her free time, Aquilah relaxes by doing crotchet, keeping house plants, and going to the theatre. She enjoys many different foods, with Caribbean and Indian being among her favorites. She fulfilled a lifelong ambition when she visited South Africa a few years ago. When she feels like getting out of her comfort zone, Aquilah likes to push herself to do something adventurous and has taken part in zip lining and white water rafting in the past. Aquilah’s goal is to help young children develop their reading skills and become confident and assured readers who can tackle anything put in front of them. You can find out more about what Aquilah is doing at www.learnplistic.com.