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Things I wish parents knew about reading
1. If your elementary-school kid really likes to read, they're ahead of the ball game, even if you think they're reading books that are trashy or too short and easy.
2. You're not looking for a "Level M" book or a "Level P" book. You're looking for a book that your kid really wants to read, which might be anywhere from "pretty challenging" to "really easy."
3. When you tell your kid, "You can't borrow that many books, you're not going to read them all," it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's no skin off anyone's nose if the kid takes out 10 and reads 5.
4. I don't have a magic list of the right book to give every second-grade girl (even if I suspect it may be Clementine). It helps to have some idea of what your kid likes to read about. Or what they like in general, if they don't like to read.
5. You may have fond memories of what you read as a child, but your kid doesn't care and the publisher probably didn't reprint it.
6. If you spend all your time yelling at your kid about what they're doing wrong when they go to the library, they might come to associate going to the library with getting yelled at for everything they're doing wrong.
7. Books are not that thing you have to do to get smarter. Books are that thing that teaches you how to make clothes or do science experiments; books are that thing that tells you fantastic stories. Books should look like dessert, not like spinach.
8. If your kid is excited about reading, and you do anything to minimize that excitement, turn it into a chore or a burden or a thing to argue about, I will probably forget you. But I will not forgive you.
2. You're not looking for a "Level M" book or a "Level P" book. You're looking for a book that your kid really wants to read, which might be anywhere from "pretty challenging" to "really easy."
3. When you tell your kid, "You can't borrow that many books, you're not going to read them all," it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's no skin off anyone's nose if the kid takes out 10 and reads 5.
4. I don't have a magic list of the right book to give every second-grade girl (even if I suspect it may be Clementine). It helps to have some idea of what your kid likes to read about. Or what they like in general, if they don't like to read.
5. You may have fond memories of what you read as a child, but your kid doesn't care and the publisher probably didn't reprint it.
6. If you spend all your time yelling at your kid about what they're doing wrong when they go to the library, they might come to associate going to the library with getting yelled at for everything they're doing wrong.
7. Books are not that thing you have to do to get smarter. Books are that thing that teaches you how to make clothes or do science experiments; books are that thing that tells you fantastic stories. Books should look like dessert, not like spinach.
8. If your kid is excited about reading, and you do anything to minimize that excitement, turn it into a chore or a burden or a thing to argue about, I will probably forget you. But I will not forgive you.