How do I encourage my younger son to enjoy reading more?

[delphine]

My younger son (of 2 - older son is 8) is 6 and in first grade.  Before he started school, he was thrilled and excited to learn to read.  We did the "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons" book together and he had the basics down before starting kindergarten.  Now, he's halfway through first grade and it seems that he really hasn't progressed much this year.  He's lost all of his motivation.  It became evident to me over the Christmas break that he CAN actually read a lot better than I thought he could.  We were playing some trivia games and he could read many or most of they questions with little trouble. 

I have not been pushing him too hard.  He is definitely at or slighly above grade level.  It's more a concern that he has mentioned a few times that he doesn't like to read because he's not a "good reader". 

Some factors that may be at play. 

1.  DS1 is an incredibly good reader.  He is well above grade level (has tested consistently 5-6 grades above his actual grade since first grade).  He has gotten several reading awards and recognition at their school.  I think that DS2 feels like he is not as good at reading as DS1, though I honestly think he has the same potential.

2. The school uses the "reading counts" program, which is similar to accelerated reader. The first "award level" is 25 points, which DS2 achieved very early in the school year.  Since then (they get their name on a big wall in the hallway of the school for this), he has not wanted to read.  It's like he met his goal so he doesn't want to do any more.  Several of the kids in his class are nearing 100 points at this time and it would not be unreasonable for a first grader to reach 250 points by the end of the year.  DS1 has broken school records in each of the years he's participated in the program (I am not mentioning this for any other reason than I worry that DS2 feels like he shouldn't even try if he can't reach the level that DS1 did).  Again, I think he could absolutely do it, it's just that he has different priorities than DS1 and he is much less competitive. 

3.  He is doing well in his other subjects.  He is very well rounded and enjoys school.  He is extremely creative and loves things like drawing, sculpture, music etc. 

Any suggestions?  Should I just let him be and not worry about it?  I understand that not everyone loves to read and if that's just part of his character, I am OK with that.  I just worry that outside factors might be influencing him and would like to be able to gently encourage him. 

Thanks!

[EFmom]

I'm a librarian (academic) and dh is a public school teacher, so while we aren't elementary school teachers, we are educators.

My advice is to make at least weekly trips to the public library with your son and let him pick out a tote bag full of books.  The key thing is that they interest him.  If they are too easy, it will help his fluency to read them.  If they are too hard, you can read them together.  Make sure he sees you read.   Read to him and have him read to you.  You can sit down together and each read your own books silently, but have it be nice, together time.  Emphasize the pleasure that reading brings your family and the magic books provide.

My kids went to school knowing how to read, and the reading programs and the school library, if left to their own devices, would have killed their interest in reading.  Both my dds would bring home the same two books from the school library every week, and they'd never look at them.  I finally asked why those books.  The school emphasizes that the kids have to pick "just right" books, meaning at the just right reading level for the child.  My kids didn't like being hassled by the teacher or the librarian over their choices, so they'd take two books they knew would pass the "just right" test to get the scrutiny over with.    Makes my head explode.

[LuckyMommaToo]

Graphic novels and comic books have been HUGE in helping my son love reading. What I did when I knew DS *could* read but didn't really choose to, was go to the library by myself, check out 20 books (including non-fiction and graphic novels) that I thought might be interesting to him, and then leave them next to his booster seat in the car. I never mentioned them. Since he's a captive audience in the car, he would pick up a book. Sure enough, he got hooked on a few of them and we went from there.

Some titles to look out for:

--Captain Underpants

--My Weird School series

--Melvin Beederman, Superhero series

Those three series were what really catapulted my DS into loving books. Of course, kids' tastes vary so much that they might not work for you.

Good luck!
-e

[lindberg99]

My 1st grader is the same way. He can read but he doesn't read nearly as much as his older siblings. I keep reading aloud to him (right now I'm reading the Narnia series to him) and take him to the library to pick out books. He LOVES Captain Underpants. We were there over Christmas and a librarian suggested it to him and he sat in the library and read the entire book in one sitting. So definitely check those books out.

ETA - He also really likes the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books.

[zinemama]

I would totally NOT concentrate on his reading skills or making him enjoy reading. Instead, I would focus on keeping the love of books alive, by reading to him every day. Find great books to read to him and go to town. My younger son also talked about "hating to read" in 1st grade, and I knew he could do it, but just didn't. I didn't worry about it, but read him The Great Brain series, the Little House books, the Chronicles of Prydain, and anything else I thought he'd like. A year later, he's reading happily on his own.

The ability or desire to read independently comes on its own. But the love of books is something you can nurture easily.

[Owen'nZoe]

We definitely went through a stage like you are describing with my son this year (he is also in 1st grade). When I was complaining to friends about it, I basically called him lazy, I was so frustrated.  Not very proud of that parenting moment - at least I never said it in front of him, I guess.

I think he had just kind of hit a plateau, challenging himself with more difficult reading was not a priority for him at that point, and he just needed time. He didn't want to go to the library, so I kept going every week and brought home a big bag of books that I left laying out around the house, stuff I thought he'd enjoy - Captain Underpants, Nate the Great, Sonic comic books (gawd, those things are awful to read!), non-fiction about bugs and astronomy and other things he likes, and a range of picture books. Sometimes he'd look at the books, sometimes he'd bring one to me to read, sometimes he didn't crack a single one open. He wasn't reading the books, but he was reading other things...the instructions on his math homework, the promos on the cartoon channel, the pop-ups on his video games...and I think that was enough to get him over the plateau. Then all of a sudden, he just started reading and there was no stopping him. I was glad I had kept up bringing the books home even when he didn't seem interested, because once he was, the books were there. Now he is into picking out his own books again, which is great.

[34me]

My ds1 was a Title I kiddo after a sister who was a voracious reader. He still, at 14, doesn't "love to read" but he loves to know things. He has gotten a Guiness Book of World Records every year for Christmas since 2nd grade. He will often read it before he falls asleep and then come up with facts days later out of the blue. That was our "out of the box" solution.

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by delphine 
I think he could absolutely do it, it's just that he has different priorities than DS1 and he is much less competitive.

Seems logical. My ds went into K reading at a second grade level, at 4.5 he started zipping through the BOB books. My current 4.5 seems just as capable, but isn't much interested in learning to read; I think that once she is in school she will progress rapidly.

Edited by Emmeline II - 1/5/11 at 11:08am

[katroshka]

This sounds a bit like the situation we have had, in some ways. My older daughter, age 9, reads well above grade level and reads constantly (that's how I was as a kid, too). My 8 year old daughter has some visual processing issues that she got vision therapy for and since then her reading has drastically improved, but she still just isn't as into reading as her sister, and also seems to compare to her sister a lot. Lately we have started buying her graphic novels (some of her favorites are "Bone" and "Amulet") and she is plowing through those so fast that I can't keep up with supplying them. She also loves non-fiction.

That being said, she is just really geared towards math and science, and I've pretty much accepted that she is just not an avid reader, at least at this stage. Something that encourages me is that as an engineering student I have a lot of friends who work in math/ science/ tech fields, and many of them just didn't really enjoy reading much as children. Many liked comics and graphic novels, just like my dd, and as they got older, like middle/ high school, they started to get into reading more and enjoy reading as adults. They are all well rounded, well spoken people, so I just had to adjust my attitudes toward reading a bit. I always thought being a book lover was a necessary part of being on track for a kid, but I've come to realize that my dd is curious, knowledgeable, and engaged, and as she gets older she will have more motivation to read as her interests will necessitate it, and her interests will be better addressed by books at her reading level as she gets older.

My advice would be to just make sure your child has access to a wide variety of books and the quiet time to read them, and as long as he is reading at grade level not to worry about it.

[domesticidyll]

You could also try books on tape, if you spend regular time in the car--same "captive audience" idea. My DS has especially loved E. B. White reading Charlotte's Web and My Side of the Mountain, and I think he would have loved Tale of Desperaux if our library had it on tape.

[Linda on the move]

So many great ideas already listed -- the public library, books on tape, etc. Both my kids are avid readers now (they are 12 and 14), but one of them wasn't reading at all when she was 6.

I think that the thing I've done over the years that has helped them the most is reading TO them at bedtime. I still do. Read simple books he likes to hear over and over. Read books that are right on his level that you enjoy. Read simple chapter books, one painful chapter at a time. This last one is what eventually got both my DDs reading -- they hated getting to the end of the chapter and would take the book and read further. Don't make this a reading lesson time, but simply a time to enjoy books together.

Let go of how many reading awards he gets. They don't matter at all. Start laying a foundation so that when he's in middle school, high school and beyond, he picks up books and reads them. Reading should NOT be a competitive activity.

[whatsnextmom]

You know, my youngest isn't a big reader either. For starters, while he was an early reader and always a little above grade level, he wasn't what I'd call a "fantastic" reader until after his 7th birthday. At this point he's 10 and many grade levels advanced in reading in two languages. However, it's NEVER something he thinks to do on his own, EVER. If I tell him, "go read a book" he doers it and comes back eager to share the details of the story with me. It just never occurs to him to do it himself. I believe it stems from DS's social nature. He's not a solitary creature at all. He wants interaction constantly and reading, well, unless we read together (which we often still do though not nightly like we used to) he just doesn't see the point. We're sort of waiting it out. He's required to do some reading for school. I admit, on breaks and in the summer, I often tell him to pick something and read it.

I reccomend the book "The Invention of Hugo Cabret." It's HUGE but it's a blend of graphic novel and novel. It's just fantastic and good for young readers. I know it really bumped up the self-esteem of DS (who also has a big sister who is legendary in reguards to reading lol.) I also reccomend information books like the LEGO Star Wars resource books. My DS also likes the yearly Guiness Book of World Record books. It's a lot of pictures but lots of text too.

[delphine]

OP, here.  While I have been greedily soaking up all of the great advice on this thread, I realized I hadn't actually replied. 

First of all, thanks for all of the great suggestions.  They have been really helpful.  It's also nice to hear that others struggle with the same things. 

While we already take regular trips to the library, I realized that our trips had become more "mommy led" than "child led."  So, I am going to make an effort to let him pick out all of his books.  I am not going to push him to move up in his reading.  In the end, I really want him to enjoy reading for the sake of reading. 

The graphic novel idea is a good one.  My older ds enjoys graphic novels but we don't have a lot of them at home.  I think I will steer toward that section in the library next time (our library puts all the graphic novels in the teen section...even the bone books etc, which I think are geared for younger kids). 

I am also going to start reading aloud more.  When they were younger, we often read books together, but we have gotten out of the habit lately.  Time to reinstitute that. 

So, again, thank you.  This has been very helpful to me.

[KCMichigan]

I am glad that you got some good ideas! I teach and some things I use for my 'reluctant'  readers are:

1. books on tape (listen to them, then confidence builds to read independently)

2. you read- he reads. Take turns reading together- it is enjoyable as a social activity and also models good reading skills

3. magazines- Ranger Rick, High 5, and other kids magazines are much more 'managable' to reluctant readers, the varying fonts, pics, and short articles are much less intimidating than a book

4. Give optional daily reading activities ( have him read you the weather, the recipes out of cookbooks, maps, the back of cereal boxes, game rules, etc) to help him see that reading is an everyday tool/skill

5. as PP said, make the library a special regular event with him choosing books

6. Have him dictate stories to you (you write or type) and then have him illustrate them and read them back. Kids love to read what they have written or dictated.

7.make a special reading time (before bed, after school, etc) that is designated for reading whatever you want- ALL family members stop and read

8. have fiction and non-fiction books in subjects that interest him. Some kids gravitate toward one type of writing more than others. 

9. Keep a tally of titles he reads (or you read with him). Sometimes the vastness of the 'list' makes them motivated to add to it- they see YES they really can read a lot of different things!

10. Keep some books in a special spot (bag/baskte, etc) that you know he enjoys. sometimes kids get confused in trying to pick books they like and simply choose not to read since they cant decide and are worried about picking something too hard/not interesting to them

Some of the 'I am not good at reading' is a stamina issue for kids K-3. They are simply overwhelmed at the length, text, smaller font, and smaller or no pics in 'older' books and think that because they can/dont want to/have no interest in reading them that they are not good at reading. Some kids dont have the interest and/or attention to stick with longer text even if they have the reading ability to do so.