Learning to Read vs Becoming a Reader

 
This morning as I read an article about parents who want their children to learn to read by age 4 or 5, I began to think about the difference between learning to read and becoming a real reader. Most children will learn to read, many fewer will have a childhood filled with the pleasure of reading.   

There are of course a small group of children who just seem born to read. They fall into books and never look back. Another small group at the other end of the spectrum struggles to learn the basics. (There is a lot parents can do to help children make the jump into reading fluency, but that is another blog.) The majority, however, learn to read some time between kindergarten and second grade, and then drift away. By the time they are 10 or 11 they will read only when they have to. A combination of school reading (seldom fun), too much homework, busy schedules, electronics everywhere, and friends who don't read, all conspire against reading as a pleasurable activity for modern children. 

  
 The solution is not time consuming or even very difficult, although it does require determination, and willingness to be a little different. Most children do learn to read in school - often in spite to the crude way reading is taught. If they are lucky they run across a teacher or two or loves to read and shares this love. But schools seldom turn children into readers. Parents do . First, they need to fill their homes with books and pictures; I mean books everywhere (bathroom, bedroom, kitchen table, back seat of the car). Then, and this is important, they must insist on regular empty time. Boredom is a friend. Think less enrichment, less scheduled activities, less gadgets. Create spaces in your child's life, cram your home full of books, and the rest will take care of itself.    

 

 

Comments

[Ana Garcia]

I agree, exposing a child to reading material is very important.Even newspapers can be a great reading material. It works great for those families that can not afford books.I learned how to read lnog before going to school. We never owned a book, but my father worked at a post office and got access to all the national newspapers and he used to take a copy of each home every day.It was like a fun game to us, collecting the comics, pictures and making hats and paper masks after we were done.Now days, with so many computarized games, expensive toys and stress to comply with so many standards make us forget the simple things that have worked for so long and that a child's imagination is so precious.

[Peggy Reimann]

Anna - I too grew up looking at my parents' newspapers. Of course now, people don't read the newspaper that much, but it is not hard to get plenty of magazines. And, of course, there are always thrift shops and yard sales. I know we've talked about this before. Peggy