Imagine sitting down every day as a family to enjoy some quality family reading time together. Everyone rushes to snuggle up together and waits excitedly to start the story. Is this what happens in your home? Some days it may be. Other days it may be a bigger struggle. It definitely is in our house some days. If you long for the days of peaceful time reading to kids, but struggle to make it happen, then I am here to help. Today I’m sharing the most important tip for reading to kids.

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Loosen Up!

This may seem obvious, but with the growing push for kids to read earlier and read more, parents can often feel the strain too. We are constantly being told that kids need to be reading by a certain time, should be reading a certain number of pages or hours a day, and a certain number of books per year. It can be hard to “loosen up” and take reading lightly when there are always new benchmarks being introduced.

But guess what? Meeting all of those benchmarks won’t mean anything if we don’t make reading fun for kids.

Foster a Love of Reading

I am often asked how to get kids to read more. The answer is to make reading fun. We have to shift the focus from the amount of pages, words, books, or hours, and instead focus on fostering a love of reading. Once kids love reading, tracking the numbers will be easier and more fun, instead of a chore. Think about it in terms of your own reading. If you are reading something you enjoy, you can probably fly through it. But if it’s a textbook on something you don’t care about, each page can take forever!

There are lots of ways that you can make reading fun for kids and raise a bookworm. Reading to your kids is the first and most important step to raising a reader. From the very beginning, reading to kids helps them connect reading and books to positive feelings of love. In addition to this simple but lasting side effect, reading to your kids every day also offers you the opportunity to show them that reading can be fun, and to model the behaviors of good readers.

Related Post: Reading Aloud from the Beginning

Have Fun with It

Don’t take your daily reading too seriously! Every read aloud doesn’t have to be a big life lesson or a lesson in reading skills. Some days my daughter and I read deep and meaningful books that help her learn coping skills or help her to deal with big emotions. Other days we happiily read the silliest books we can find and spend the day laughing at nonsense. Both types of books have a place on our bookshelf and in our daily reading. On those days when I am making silly voices and reading ridiculous books, she is reminded that reading can be a lot of fun, and those will become treasured memories to her. I still have fond memories of my parents reading silly books to me and my sister. And those nights spent reading made me the reader that I am.

Making reading fun can be easy!

Even if you aren’t confident in your read aloud skills, don’t worry about it! It is really easy to make your read aloud times fun, while also inadvertently teaching kids important reading skills. Use silly voices and read ridiculous stories to get them laughing. Over exaggerate certain noises, words, or scenes to draw out the action and draw them in to the story. Read rhyming stories or stories with repeating refrains and let them fill in the next words. Any of these things will draw kids in and make them feel like part of the process.

Related Post: 5 Things Experts Don’t Tell You About Reading to Kids

Don’t force it

I am a former teacher who now writes a book blog. Books are my passion. But some days reading just doesn’t work out. My daughter is distracted, or gets frustrated, or we argue over which book to read. And you know what? That is okay. She is just starting to read herself, and some days she is happy to read a word to me if I point to it. But other days, that is just absolutely not going to happen. Forcing it won’t get us anywhere. Nagging her to read the word or read a certain number of pages to me isn’t going to encourage her to enjoy reading. So I try not to force it. (Sometimes a struggle for the teacher in me, but I try!).

I cannot think of a single day together when we haven’t read at least one book. So if that hour you set aside in the afternoon for reading just isn’t working, then don’t force it. Put it off. They won’t remember that you didn’t read on January 13th or whatever day. But forcing them to read against their will and getting in to a huge battle about it could be something they internalize. And that could cause more reading problems down the line.

Get everyone involved

So what actionable steps can you take to loosen up and change the way your family looks at reading time?

Let kids choose the books

Even if it is something silly or ridiculous, or a comic book or graphic novel, or a magazine article, or even a cookbook! Show interest in what they want to read and don’t minimize it as “less”.

Take turns reading

Whether it is letting little ones fill in the next word or the repeated refrain, or letting older kids read to you from an interesting magazine article. Every little stress free bit of reading counts towards raising a kid who sees reading as a fun thing.

Ask questions before, during and after

Talk to kids about what you are reading. Laugh at the silly parts. Explore the illustrations. Ask questions and show them that you are engaged with the book and with them.

Set aside the stress and the drama about reading benchmarks and focus on instilling a love of reading first. Loosening up can help you to break through those reading barriers and make reading an enjoyable experience again!

What is your most important tip for read aloud? Share in the comments below!

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