Although I don’t consider Happy Healthy Mama exclusively a food blog, food talk does tend to dominate around here. I’m passionate about health, nutrition, and feeding my family well, so you’ll always find healthy recipes and some fitness talk when you visit.
But I want to share another one of my passions with you, and it just so happens to fit under the parenting umbrella: kids and reading. Before Meghan was born, I was an elementary school teacher. While I feel blessed to be able to stay home with my children, there are many days where I miss teaching. What I miss the most is the magic of teaching a child to read.
I feel lucky to have an education background, as so many of my skills and knowledge naturally spill into my parenting.
I titled this piece How to Grow a Reader because helping your child become a lover of books and a lifelong reader is truly a process that requires care and intent and starts as a newborn. The great thing is that anyone can implement these tips. You don’t have to be a teacher and thanks to public libraries most people have access to great books. It helps if you like reading yourself, but even if you don’t you can fake it and your child will still benefit.
Have Designated Places for Books
No matter where my kids are in our house or in our car, they have access to books. There isn’t one play area that doesn’t have books nearby. Have books in a place where they are easy to reach and they entice your kids.
Each child has books in their bedroom, there is a basket of their books in our bedroom, and more books are in our main living area, the kids’ play room, our basement, and in the car.
Have a lot of Books
If you are going to have books available in every space of your home, you are going to need a lot of books. You can achieve this a number of ways. Public libraries are awesome. As a teacher, I would check out 30-40 books at a time. I also went to every used book sale I could and I still do. I have bins of books in our storage room just waiting for my kids to grow into them. You can also request books for gifts for birthdays and holidays and if your kids are school-aged take advantage of book club orders that come home.
Have a Wide Variety of Books
A lot of times a child will latch onto a certain subject and only want to read those kinds of books. That’s fine. Let your child take the lead, but at the same time keep exposing him to different subjects and genres. As a toddler, read him interactive, lift-the-flap books so he can get involved. Find rhyming books, alphabet books, informational books, and books with stories that will make them say, “Again! Again!” at the end. (And make sure you do read it again and again!) The greater variety of books you can have, the better. “Look and Find” books used to be low on my list of books I thought my kids needed, but now I know how well they can increase vocabulary. Different kinds of books serve different purposes, so aim for variety.
Have Designated Reading Times
As a teacher, it was blatantly clear which of my students were read to and which were not. I can’t stress enough how important it is to spend time reading with your kids. You should spend 30 minutes a day reading to each of your children. It doesn’t have to be 30 minutes all at once, as many children don’t have an attention span to sit for 30 minutes at a time. It’s easier to make sure you’re getting enough reading time by having designated times for reading. You can do it before naps and/or bedtime and pick another time during the day or evening where you know you’ll be sitting to read. If you have multiple children who are close enough in age and/or interests, you can read to them at the same time. I often read to Meghan and Luke together, but I make sure to make time to read to them separately as well because Luke doesn’t always like to sit through the same books as Meghan.
Model Reading
I grew up watching my mom fly through 1-2 novels a week and my dad was always reading business books. It’s helpful for kids to see their parents as readers–they will want to become readers, too. Enthusiasm for books is contagious, so even if your children don’t get a chance to see you reading for pleasure that often, talk about books and get excited about the books you are reading to them.
Immerse Literacy into your Day
There are countless ways to help foster literacy naturally throughout your days. Have conversations with your kids. Talk to them often and go beyond instructional talk (It’s time to put your shoes on, dinner’s ready, come to the table, etc.) Talk to your kids in the car instead of having them watch a DVD or play a video game. It’s through natural, not dumbed down, conversation that kids develop vocabulary. Having a strong vocabulary helps children with comprehension when they become readers. Building up a vocabulary for reading starts way before they can actually read.
Build phonemic awareness (being able to hear and manipulate the sounds that make up words) at a young age. Both of my kids were able to identify all of the letters and their sounds before they were two. Sure, I think my kids are smart cookies, but most toddlers can pick up these skills with repeated exposure. I didn’t use flash cards or anything like that, I simply immerse the alphabet into our everyday play and we talk about the letters and their sounds. We have letter puzzles, magnet letters, the Leapfrog fridge phonics, foam letters for the bathtub, alphabet books, and blow up letters. You get it, right? Letters, letters, everywhere.
Phonemic awareness is also built through songs, nursery rhymes, simple sound games (“I spy something that starts with the letter g,” for example), and chants, so use those tools to help your child as well.
I can attest that these simple tips do help grow readers. While I studied literacy in college and practiced teaching it as a teacher for seven years, I have seen it firsthand with my children. Both of my children love books. Meghan learned to read at 4 and at 5 1/2 reads well above her grade level. Luke happily grabs books and brings them to me over and over again everyday. The love they have for reading is so important to me and warms my heart. As a parent, I will do whatever I can to foster the love of literacy and help it continue throughout their childhood and adolescence.
Reader Feedback: How do you feel about me expanding into topics outside of food, recipes, and nutrition? Also, tell me about your experiences with books either growing up or as a parent.
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https://happyhealthymama.com/how-to-grow-a-reader.html
Great article!
I’m all for you expanding your topics!
Thanks for the feedback, Bree!
My daughter is a reader always has been. At one and a half years old she was sitting beside me and we would read for hours at a time. When my husband would get home from work he would take over reading. If I was not reading to her she was “reading” to her Barbie dolls. So cute! Now she is a teacher and reads to her class in NYC.
My son was not a reader he was more into cars and dinosaurs but at the age of twenty he has taken up reading and reads for leisure as well as college.
I am a non-fiction reader. That is my love. Fiction not so much 🙂
Pretty great post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to say that I’ve
really loved surfing around your blog posts. After all I’ll be
subscribing on your rss feed and I’m hoping you write once more soon!
As an avid reader, raising another avid reader, I really love this post.
I began taking Maya to the library as a baby and I really believe that instilled her love for books.
PS: Cute pictures!
I am not much of a reader, but would love for my kids to enjoy reading. This past weekend I did sit down on the couch and start reading a book that our church is studying, and my 8 year old went and got a book from his room and sat down and read with me. He commented on how peaceful it was. We do read books together every night before bed and need to work in reading at other times of the day. Thanks for the great post!! I am all about you discussing topics like this.
I love it! Reading is contagious. 🙂
Oooh, I’m going to be the bad guy, so I apologize in advance if you take offense. This is just a different point of view mixed with some (I hope) constructive criticism.
I’m sort of on the fence about stretching outside of your normal fare. I did find the post mostly informative, but what turned me off was this sentence: “…because helping your child become a lover of books and a lifelong reader is truly a process that requires care and intent and starts as a newborn.”
Meh….no, not really. I mean, I suppose it would help to a certain extent, but really, my parents didn’t read to me much and I turned into a voracious reader. And just because one follows all these steps doesn’t mean a child will necessarily turn into a lover of books and a lifelong reader. For example, my mother in law tried something of your process with my husband and he is far from a lover of books and a lifelong reader. I can’t remember the last time he actually picked up a book outside of the bathroom.
So sure, if it tickles you, read to your newborn. My kid hated it. She’s only now getting into books at almost 3, after trying here and there occasionally to see if she is ready. It really isn’t a complicated process and something that requires a ton of thought and consideration. I would have liked to see this post and other out-of-the-box posts come across as less absolute. It came across that if you didn’t follow this process then your child will not become a lover of books. I know you are going to say that wasn’t what you meant, and that’s fine, but that’s how it read to at least to one of your readers.
I never commented on your “2 reasons I don’t get fat” post, but I had the same gut reaction to that one too; it came off as sanctimonious, although far more than this one. Almost unsubscribed because of it.
Of course, this is the Internet and people are going to get mad/offended no matter what you do or say. So there you go.
Oh, I don’t take offense to your comment at all and I don’t think you’re a bad guy for putting your opinion out there. The last thing I am is sanctimonious so I do want to know if readers think my posts are coming off that way.
Let me start with the fat post. That was written mostly out of irritation from hearing the “you’re so lucky” line one too many times. There wasn’t too much more to it than that–I don’t think I’m better than anyone else or that maintaining weight is the same for everyone. But I hate hearing that I’m lucky and the assumption that I don’t have to work to maintain my weight.
Okay…onto the present post. This post was meant to be nothing except helpful to others. It’s an area I have knowledge about and am passionate about and wanted to share. What I’ve shared here is my perception of what parents can do to help their children grow into readers. It may be uncomplicated to some or come naturally, but I know from experience with parents when I was an educator that it isn’t that way for every parent. Some parents truly do want and need practical tips for bringing literacy into their home. That’s what I tried to do here. My opinion is that if you want to help your child become a reader, these are things you can do. Yes, I could have included the exceptions to the rule. There will always be kids who become voracious readers despite not having a lot of books or parents who read to them and vice versa. But I thought my post was already long enough!
Fair enough! 🙂
Thank you so much for this insightful post! My daughter is 14 months old and I am trying everyday to increase her vocabulary. Every time she utters a new word, I am overjoyed because it’s proof that my efforts are paying off. As a new mother, I love your blog and would be very interested in similar future posts.
You’re welocome! It’s so fun to hear new words, isn’t it? Thanks for the feedback!
I love this post, I would love to see more like it! I am the Director of a Preschool and my background is in education; this was a wonderful reminder of what I wish each parent grasped, the importance of reading in the home. I see many children who aren’t sure how to hold a book or turn the pages, simply because they haven’t had much exposure to books. According to my mom she began exposing my siblings and I to books at birth and began reading to each of us on a daily basis by six months. Another thing she did was describe our surroundings while in the car; it can be as simple as “we’re stopping at a stop sign, the stop sign is red, do you see anything else that is red?” I truly believe that those simple steps increased my love of reading, my ability to read, and my vocabulary at a young age. I’m expecting my first child in July and I cannot wait to implement your tips for growing a reader! Thank you!
You’re welcome, Katey! Thank you for sharing your insight.
I really enjoyed this topic. My son is almost three and he loves books, but I can see, from reading your post, that I could stand to have many, many, many more books in the house. I probably check out 8-12 books from the library for my son every week, but I am still trying to figure out a system to keep them where I can find them, because we have books in almost every part of the house, too: his bedroom, the playroom, the living room, and both cars. I am going to start working on building up our book collection to include books he can grow into! Please do post more of these types of articles!
Ugh I’ve lost a few library books! Building up a library of books takes time–I definitely got a head start through my occupation. If you see a Friends of the Library sale or something similar in your area check it out. I’ve gotten tons of inexpensive but great books that way.
Thanks for the feedback. 🙂
Love this topic! I really want my kids to be readers ;). Thank you for all of your tips! I want to implement the books in different parts of the house. I’ve read The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. He talks about how to grow a reader thru reading aloud to them. Even when they are old enough to read, he says to read to them. I haven’t always been great at this cuz life gets in the way, but it’s something I want to get better at doing!
PS: where are the white bookshelves in what looks like a playroom from?? I’ve been looking for some like that for our playroom 😉
I love the Read Aloud Handbook! Yes, I can relate to life getting in the way. It definitely helps always having books close by. We just gravitate to them because they are everywhere. 🙂
The white bookshelves are from Pottery Barn kids. 🙂
I was a former teacher, as well! I have been doing all these thing with my boys and my big guy can read at four. People are shocked, but I love to read and we encouraged it naturally since birth. Thanks for all the great tips.
You’re welcome Susan.