Encouraging Children to Read Outside of School

**Collaborative post**

Reading comprehension is a vitally important skill for every child to possess. In the absence of solid reading and writing abilities, children are guaranteed to experience difficulty throughout their adolescence and well into their adult years. You’d be hard-pressed to find a career that doesn’t require some level of reading proficiency, and any parent who thinks their child can get by without basic literacy is sorely mistaken. In the interest of developing good reading comprehension, children should be encouraged to read outside of school. If they come to view reading as an enjoyable leisure activity instead of a cumbersome chore, their odds of building above-average proficiency will increase exponentially. Parents looking for effective ways to encourage their children to read outside of school will be well-served by the following tips. 

Look for Material That Boosts Reading Comprehension  

If your child’s lack of interest in reading is due to difficulty with reading comprehension, you’d be wise to nip this issue in the bud. Children who have trouble with reading are liable to experience literacy issues throughout their entire lives if their problems go unaddressed. When searching for ways to boost your child’s reading comprehension, check out the highly effective close reading products from Learning A-Z. These immersive learning aids are designed to increase comprehension in a timely manner and set the stage for long-term proficiency.

In addition to investing in helpful materials, you’ll need to play an active role in your child’s practice sessions. This entails setting aside time to oversee their reading sessions and chart their progress every day. Furthermore, since practice makes perfect, your child should be required to devote between 30 minutes to one hour to reading each night. Most children are liable to push back against such a rule, but standing firm and refusing to budge will ultimately be a boost to their overall literacy. The more accustomed your child becomes to reading every night, the less likely they are to persist in their complaints.   

Turn Reading into a Family Activity  

Many children refuse to tolerate hypocrisy in their parents. If a parent fails to abide by the same standards they outline for their children, most kids will readily take notice. As such, when it comes to reading, parents would be wise to practice what they preach. Ergo, if you expect your children to devote a portion of their leisure time to reading, you’d best set a good example. This means engaging in pleasure reading on a regular basis and making sure your kids see you doing so. Not only can this make your kids more amenable to reading, but it can also open you up to a variety of new reading material. 

You can take things a step further by enforcing designated family reading periods in your household. During this time, phone use should be prohibited, and every member of your family should be immersed in a good book. For best results, create a designated reading area in your home. This area should contain bookshelves, comfy furniture and calming colours. Concentration is crucial to getting the most out of reading, so when it comes to phones, computers and other devices, make sure everyone knows to have them put away/switched off.    

Keep an Open Mind Regarding Comics and Graphic Novels 

It’s easy to see why many children prefer comics, graphic novels and manga to traditional books. In addition to containing an abundance of colourful art, these mediums tend to tell stories that interest kids more than what they find in regular novels. Although some parents disparage graphic novels and regard them as inferior alternatives to books, this line of thinking is incredibly misguided. Reading is reading, and as long as their preferred graphic novels are age-appropriate, there’s no reason your kids should be discouraged from enjoying them. Furthermore, reading graphic novels can act as a gateway to enjoying other types of literature, so the next time you’re tempted to turn your nose up at a comic book, take care to think twice. 

Many children associate reading with schoolwork, and there’s little wonder as to why. After spending a sizable portion of the school day reading and listening to other people read, most kids would rather devote their leisure time to other endeavours. Instead of allowing children’s interest in reading to wane, parents should take measures to ensure that reading is viewed as an enjoyable activity. 

Other options could even be games which they have to do a little reading to play – monopoly where they are reading place names and chance cards, scrabble and boggle style games also encourage reading. Subtitles on the TV with the sound off is also another way to encourage reading too.