Things I wish parents knew about reading

[owlectomy]

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.

Comments

[sasha_feather]

I haaaate it when people yell at kids for no reason! Also at dogs (said because this happens at the dog park-- people yell at their dogs for doing totally normal, acceptable dog things.)

[grrlpup]

My dad: "Why do you read all those story-books? You could be learning something!" Fortunately it was idle grousing and I was allowed to check out what I wanted.

[meaghansketch]

Man, I would love to see this as a meme that could propogate on FB/Tumblr/Buzzfeed. This deserves a wider audience than you have here.

[meaghansketch]

Like this

(I tried to do all of these on one picture but it seemed really text-dense.)

[owlectomy]

That is great! \o/

If nothing else I may need to print that out as a poster for the library. :)

[meaghansketch]

lol, let me know if you want more, I have Magic Bullet looks and a stock photo account and I know how to use them ;)

[oyceter]

So this! I think even last year or so, my mom was saying, "Why do you read all those novels? You should read about accounting!"

[brigid]

The Horn Book put out a book on raising kids who read. This is part of the book: http://archive.hbook.com/pdf/articles/13ways.pdf "13 ways to raise a non reader."

I checked the book out of the library and found it valuable enough to purchase. Most of it is stuff we're already doing (because it's stuff our parents did with us) but its still great.

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

And don't tell her a book is too old for her, or too hard. If it is, she'll drop it herself.

And don't tell her she has to finish one book before she can start another. If she turns it in unfinished, she can always check it out again later.