Reading for Pleasure-Asset 25

Reading for Pleasure

To invest in this developmental asset, parents and other adults read to all children, make reading fun, and encourage participation. Preschool and elementary-age children read with adults at least 30 minutes each day and also enjoy reading on their own.

As is the case with many positive and important behaviors for children, observing and experiencing their parents and other significant adults being involved with the behavior is one of the most powerful ways to teach it. This is especially true with reading. If you as a parent spend time reading for pleasure and discussing the things you are reading about with a sense of enthusiasm and excitement, your child or children will be motivated to learn to read and the read for pleasure themselves. Read all kinds of books and magazines and the newspaper to model diversity of interests and sources of information.

Of course, reading to your child while they are still infants and only able to listen and enjoy the pictures, colors or shapes on the page of a book is the perfect way to start. They will become enchanted with the rhythm of your voice as you read verses and gradually, as they gain language skills themselves, will learn to recognize, expect and be comforted by the stories and outcomes of their favorite books.

An excellent resource for getting young children ready to read and to inspire older children to read is Reading Is Fundamental, Inc. (RIF), founded in 1966. RIF motivates children to read by working with them, their parents, and community members to make reading a fun and beneficial part of everyday life. RIF's highest priority is reaching underserved children from birth to age 8. Through community volunteers in every state and U.S. territory, RIF provided 4.4 million children with 15 million new, free books and literacy resources last year. Their website address is www.rif.org/

A few other tips for investing in this asset:
• When reading to infants and toddlers, snuggle with them as you read and look at the pictures. This helps make reading pleasurable while bonding and meeting their need for security. This will generalize to reading being a source of comfort and security later in their life. Also, buy children under 1 year of age books with thick pages to make learning to turn the pages easier.
• When sharing books with toddlers, look at the pictures and illustrations together before reading the words. Have the toddler talk about what they see to help them build language skills. Also, let them turn the pages and don’t worry about skipped pages. Just let them have fun with reading. Let them choose the books they want you to read.
• With elementary school aged children, keep reading to them and with them even if they have learned some basic reading skills. This helps to reinforce that you feel reading is important and it expands their vocabulary and skills. Also, find books about subjects your child likes and gets excited about.

If you have would like more information on this asset, call or email me. Remember: Reading is cool! Let your kids know.