How can you encourage a non-reading child to read? What about a teen-ager? Would you require books to be read in the hopes that they would enjoy them once they got into them, or offer incentives, or just suggest interesting books? If you do offer incentives and suggestions and that doesn’t work, would you then require a certain amount of reading? At what point do you just accept that your child is a non-reader?
In the book Gifted Hands by brilliant surgeon Ben Carson, one of the things that turned his life around was his mother’s requirement that he and his brother read books and write book reports for her. That approach worked with him, but I have been afraid to try it. My children don’t need to “turn their lives around,” but they would gain so much from reading and I think they would enjoy it so much if they would just stop telling themselves, “I just don’t like to read.”
Well I do not have any kids of my own and both of my step kid’s love books so not an issue there. However, if I did have a child who was a non-reader I think I would select books that went for their interests. I have always been a reader I cannot honestly remember a time when I was not interested in books. My sister was a different story however, she took a while to warm up to books and I remember many summers when I was baby sitting her I would purposely select a few books from the library that were more her interests. Sometimes she did start reading them.
Now she reads a lot. I like to think I helped.
Excellent answer, my sister learned from me much the same way and now we're both big readers.
I posted a Valentines book-related question at The Crowded Leaf if you're interested!
Great answer! Finding what kids want to read is half the battle 🙂
I had to deal with this with my oldest child.
Here's my response.
My sister wasn't quite as big a reader. She reads more now thanks to my library.
Here is mine