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Why Doesn’t My Child
Like Reading?
Why Doesn’t My Child Like Reading?
A couple of days ago I published on article on how to encourage children to read from an early age.
We saw a lot of positive responses and parents keen to get on board with our strategies, but a few parents raised concerns that their children were older and not all that keen on reading.
So, we decided to add some new strategies to our library that parents to can use to encourage their older children to develop a love for reading (it’s never too late!)
But, back to the question – “Why doesn’t my child like reading?”
Well… I’m not sure there is an easy answer to that one.
There are so many factors associated with reading that it probably depends on the particular child you are referring to (think about skills associated with reading, reading ability, interests etc).
Starting right at the basics, there are a number of skills involved in reading books.
Think about how many actions you need to complete to read a book. What are the skills you need to pick up the book, turn pages, read from left to right?
There are a number of skills that children need to learn before they even start to think about developing the skill of actually reading and understanding words on a page (which is where the strategies for introducing reading to infants and toddlers comes in).
It is important that children understand and can demonstrate the skills associated with reading prior to starting school.
One really easy way to encourage reading across the board is to have plenty of books in your home.
Research has found that the number of books in a family’s home has a direct relationship with that child’s later academic achievement in the area of reading.
So, it’s important to remember that just having books present in your home is a great place to start your children on their journey towards becoming great readers!
But, if your children have passed the stage of infancy and toddler hood, not to worry, there are still plenty strategies you can use to help your child become interested in reading.
Click here for strategies to encourage your children to develop a love for reading (make sure you log in here first).
Reference:
- Peterson, C. (2004). Looking Forward Through the Lifespan Edition 4. Prentice-Hall: NSW, Australia
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9 Replies to “Why Doesn’t My Child Like Reading?”
I have little boys with varying interests so finding topics they enjoy helped. We also read longer novels together like Harry Potter, Roald Dahl books, etc to help with imagination and the idea that they soon will be able to read “big books” on their own. I also think my husband and I are good models of how to incorporate reading into your everyday lifestyle with lots of newspapers, magazines, and books in the home. With all that, not every child is going to be able to sit and focus on quite reading at young ages and may simply grown into being a reader.
Thanks for sharing! I do think there are many reasons that some children don’t like to read – a big one seems to be that they often don’t read much besides assigned books for school and those aren’t going to suit every child. It’s important to find things that match their interests outside of school!
My mother in law was a teacher for her entire career and she always mentioned that she could tell which kids were exposed to reading at an early age (and she taught 5th grade!). Thanks for writing about this because I feel like reading skills are one of the best things we can pass on to our children!
Karin | truncationblog.com
I think it depends on if the parents enjoy readin too my husband has no interest in picking up a book and his parents don’t really read and I love books as did my Mum 🙂
Lianne | Makes, Bakes and Decor
Great tips!!!! Reading at any age is amazing! xoxo
what great tips… I learned my nephew didnt like to read cause he had a learning disability. thanks for sharing
More great tips! So far my kiddo seems to enjoy reading, but if that ever changes I’ll know what to do!
My husband had a problem with his eyesight as a young child (a dominant eye), and he struggled with learning to read because they didn’t catch the problem until he was in 2nd grade. He was always placed in the “low reading group” and learned to associate reading with just feeling dumb.
Fast forward 20 years. He married ME, and AVID READER, and I got him interested in the David Baldacci series books by checking out a few of his audio books at the library for road trips. The next thing I knew, my husband had purchased the next book in the series and was wading his way through it (his reading speed was poor). But through the next few years, with him continuing to read books that interested him, he has gotten faster.
Sorry for the novel of a comment–but I’m thinking the same thing could apply to older children. Get them interested in a series in a non-threatening way, and then see what happens 🙂
Great idea Jamie, thanks for sharing! It’s so important to encourage reading in topics that interest them 🙂