How can parents encourage children to read? It is by letting the children see you reading, and reading aloud to them. This article considers ways of encouraging children to read.

Source: The Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth, 2016. 3 pages.

Cultivating a Child’s Lifestyle of Reading from a Parent’s Perspective

The importance of learning to read goes without saying. Hours are spent in the classroom and at home learning let­ters and their sounds, putting them together to form words, and progressing along the phonics pathway to reading sentences and paragraphs. Then finally, we experience the joy that comes to both parent and child from completing the first reader! I still remember the excitement and sense of accomplishment when each of my four children reached this milestone. Reading opens a whole new world to the reader. It engages the mind in a way no other activity can. It exposes us to new ideas and other cultures, different ways of view­ing and doing things. It allows us to take in information and interact with it, stimulating our minds, activating our thought processes and enabling us to sort through facts and perspectives and form our own opinions and beliefs about a topic or issue. It helps us to reason, opening our minds, with the ultimate goal of closing upon the truth. But sometimes, as reading becomes more difficult and books become thicker and more intimidating, both the amount and the level of reading falls off. How do we counter this? As parents and educators, we want to keep this momentum going. Plus, with all the other enticing activities and distractions vying for our time and attention, how do we as parents cultivate a habit — and hopefully a lifestyle — of reading in our children? How do we instill in them a love for reading? Additionally and perhaps more importantly, how do we cultivate a lifestyle of reading widely, deeply, and discerningly?

An important way to encourage children to read is to model reading ourselves. As parents, we have the God-given responsibility of role modeling for our children in every way, including reading. Our children see what and how much we read. They will begin to form an idea of what we value. So we must ask ourselves: What do I read? Is it material that is beneficial and thought-provoking? How much time do I spend reading valuable literature? Or do I spend an inordinate amount of time “reading” social media? Or do I read at all? Do my children see me reading the Bible for devotions or at times when I am seeking guidance or consolation? Do they see that I love to read? Our children tend to emulate what we do, so we must do the hard work of self-examination in this area of reading and make a correction, if needed, if we ever expect to plant seeds that would yield excellent readers in our offspring. Never forget the impact we, as parents, have on the habit formation of our children.

If we desire to raise a family of readers, then we should read aloud to our children. We cannot delegate the responsibility of reading aloud exclusively to a teacher, but rather we must embrace this opportunity as time to transfer our ideas, opinions, and values to our children. Studies have shown the importance of reading aloud to your children, especially with regard to them becoming frequent readers.1Reading aloud to children demands their listening and concentration skills, exposes them to advanced vocabulary, and provides a special time of bonding between parent and child. When reading aloud, we should read with expression, drawing our child into the narrative with voice changes that match the characters. We want our children to become engaged in the story, not think it is flat or boring. We desire our children to enjoy, indeed, relish the experience. This is particularly important when we are reading the Bible to our children. We should read the Bible with reverence and awe as our holy God’s gift of written communication to us, but if we read in a wooden, rote way, as if we are just performing a duty perfunctorily, we may be communicating a strong message that the Bible’s truths are not living and active in our lives. No other book can compare with the Bible, because it is Spirit-breathed and has the power of the living God behind its very words. Our desire is for our children to understand this from the Holy Spirit Himself as well as the care, attention, and regard we give it whenever we read the Bible.

Reading aloud to our children is also a natural time to cultivate an environment for discussion. Discuss the characters, whether it be their thought processes, their motives, or their actions. Ask whether their thinking is biblically sound and if the choices made and the actions taken are sinful or proper. This helps our children to become skillful in reading deeply as well as forming and, depending on the age, articulating a biblical worldview. A word of caution here: at times, too much questioning can disrupt the flow of the narrative and can sometimes be distracting to a listener. We must use discretion and understand the developmental level of our children and allow them time to absorb the material and engage their own mental faculties. Remember that we are tilling the soil, with the ultimate harvest of instilling a love for reading as well as developing discernment. However, with consistency and as they mature, our children will be in a habit of asking these questions as they approach any reading material. In order to prepare my children to think critically and discerningly about a literary work, or anything, for that matter, I taught my chil­dren to ask these questions as they read:

What is the author communicating? Is it true?
From what worldview is the author writing? Is it biblical?
Should I believe what the author is saying? Is it credible?
Are there conflicting viewpoints? Have I read them and given them thought?

Once armed with these tools and having learned to use them well under our guidance, a child, now a teen and beyond, is prepared to read more widely and should be encouraged to do so.

We cannot and should not shelter our children; instead, we should expose them to contradicting viewpoints while they are under our tutelage so that they can begin to logically dissect the argument or rationale, and, leaving the emo­tion out of it, critically evaluate the work to see if it holds any weight or value. As they become more accustomed to these tools, they will be able to handle more difficult mate­rial. Introduce classic writings, primary sources of history, documents from our forefathers, Puritan writings, classic literature, and so on. You may find that certain of your chil­dren take to reading more quickly than others. Each child is unique and possesses their own learning style. Some may be more auditory learners and struggle with reading.

Perhaps a word here about how to encourage a struggling or non-reader is in order. Although I’m not an expert in this area, and there are cases where professional help is needed, I can address those children who are having difficulty in getting over a hurdle in their desire to put forth the effort to read. My recommendation would be to give them reading material that is of interest to them. For example, literature about their favorite animal or something they are interested in learning or building is often helpful. Individual time spent reading aloud to them is encouraging. I also see much value in augmenting reading with audio books for everyone, but especially for a non-reader or those who struggle. We all like a great story read to us and it is a great way to gain knowledge and expand our vocabulary. We can either follow along in the text or simply enjoy the narrative while we are driving or doing something mindless.

Finally, and most importantly, the ultimate value in learning words is so that we can read the Bible and begin to understand the Word Himself. Jesus is the very Word of God, God’s message of salvation to us. Through His written Word, the Bible, God has chosen to reveal Himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ. He is God’s most effective expression of who He Himself is. Just as the right choice of a word clarifies a vague concept, so the Word, by the power of the Holy Spirit, illuminates our understanding of who God is and allows us to believe the truth by faith.

God’s Word is quick and powerful (Heb. 4:12). There is nothing so motivating for me to teach my child to read and discern what he reads as the promise of God that His Word will not return to Him void, but will accomplish that which he pleases (Isa. 55:11), and His pleasure is not in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked would turn from his way and live (Ezek. 33:11). God’s Word is truth (John 17:17), and it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16). Thus, in the pages of God’s most holy Word, we pray our children will find the Living Word and embrace Him as his Savior. By His grace, it will be followed by a daily hunger and thirst for His righteousness and growth in grace.

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