Raising Your Child to Be a Lifelong Reader

Read Aloud to Your Child

It is never too late to start reading to your child. Babies begin to learn early language by hearing a parent read. Toddlers and preschoolers increase their vocabulary, which helps them excel in the classroom. Elementary-aged children can listen to your voice to learn about fluency, pace, inflection, and emphasis as they begin to read aloud. Even preteens and young teenagers stand to benefit from reading aloud if they’ll still let you, and may will. Taking time to sit and read together as your child gets older is an opportunity for bonding and often becomes the gateway for comfortably discussing a wide variety of topics.

The key? Make reading aloud part of your routine. Many families squeeze it in at bedtime, but find a time that works for you. Mixing it up can keep reading fun. Explore picture books and chapter books, Caldecott and Newbery winners, or delve into an author study. Spend the summer working through a "family reading challenge" or pull friends and extended family in to create your own book club.

Let Your Child See You Reading

Specifically, let your child see you reading for pleasure. As a busy parent, it can be easy to let enjoyable reading slip to the wayside, but modeling the habit will help instil it in your child.

One simple way to make this happen? Set aside some family quiet reading time on the weekends. Everyone can get comfy, gather up their books, and sit together while doing their own reading. This may be tough to do in the beginning, especially for little ones, but with some practice you may all come to love this special ritual.

Support Their Gradual Independence

As your child moves into the elementary grades, they should begin reading aloud to you or to themselves for 20-30 minutes each night. As with any other skill, this doesn’t happen overnight, and takes lots of support and incremental steps toward independence.

If your child isn’t reading yet or is resistant to reading, don’t push it. The goal is to keep reading fun. If you have specific questions about your child’s progress, their teacher is your best resource.

If your child is starting to read on their own, take it slow and don’t expect too much at once.  Some ideas:

• Read a familiar book (rhyming books work best for this). Point to the last word on a page without saying it and let your child chime in.
• Take turns. To prevent fatigue, try alternating pages. You read a page, your child reads a page, and so on.
• Utilize a combination of read aloud and read alone time. You may read one picture book or a chapter, then send your child off to bed to read to themselves until it’s time to go to sleep.
• Designate specific read aloud and read alone days of the week.
• Remember that everyone has tired and grumpy days. Sometimes we all need a break!

Another great way to support early readers is to suggest strategies or point out when you notice they are using them. Pictures can help us figure out words we don’t know. Breaking a word into chunks is another helpful strategy. Asking ourselves, “Does that make sense?” is a good idea. Even the act of noticing when we’ve made a mistake, and going back to reread is the sign of a great reader.