Reading for pleasure, not by pressure
As a parent, a parent of a child in his first year of school, my role for encouraging his reading has come under closer self-scrutiny.
I have always wondered how I can affect my son’s potential love of reading, writing previously about my own childhood reading exploits, hoping for a different outcome for my boy.
How much I can actually impact his possible love of books is not exactly quantifiable, but I like to think I have carefully considered my overall approach to reading in our lives to positive effect.
Since my child started school in September, and as mentioned in my opening line, my own appraisal of personal involvement in his reading has carried increased focus. Due to the fact that the introduction of school brings the evolvement of the ‘reading books’ process, and therefore a method of dealing with them as entities at home.
I have never been entirely keen on some aspects of school reading books, fearing that the monotony of this process, and the somewhat forced direction of reading, could have an overall negative effect, much as I believe it had with me in my latter schooling.
I was interested to read an article published in The Observer this weekend, that is reporting on an American publishing expert, who is expected to advise parents not to force their children into reading what, they as parents, would like them to.
Michael Norris is expected to include evidence in the monthly Book Publishing Report that well-meaning parents can actually have a negative impact on their children picking up a healthy reading habit.
Norris says that parents have too much of say in deciding what a child reads, and if children are always led to books, rather than choosing them themselves, it really will turn them off.
He also argues that books should not be talked about with “work words” and not be stereotyped as being good, when things like video games are deemed as bad. Suggesting that rewarding children for reading with other things actually undervalues reading, making it a necessary evil rather than a practice as pleasurable or enjoyable as the rewards some parents offer.
Which reassured me that my bedtime stories protocol, of making books a slightly under rewarded treat, may actually be the right way to go.
The Observer article makes for very interesting reading, and concludes with a concise list of the great tips for parents that Norris has come up with.
One of which is not to enthuse too much on what you, as a parent, enjoyed as a child, reading should be a personal experience, and we should rely on the professionals, such as librarians and books sellers, when it comes to a child choosing their next book, rather than force feeding treasures from our own childhoods.
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Great Post! You bring up some good points. I started out as a “slow” reader and school reading only brought back traumatizing memories…ahhhhhh…… In my classes we had 3 reading groups… the “Smart” group, The “Average” group, and the “Slow” group. I fretted over being in the “Slow” group as all my friends were in the “Smart” one. So, I would finish my other assignments as quickly as possible (I was good in math) and then secretly study the reading selection for the day. Our placement was based on how well we performed in out loud reading… one slip up and you were demoted back to the lower group. I would study when I could, but spent a lot of time moving up and down the reading groups. I finally started to blossom after I got out of elementary school… maybe someday soon, I will bloom!
I thought you were joking about the group names at first, wow, I can’t believe they labelled a group of ‘slow readers’. Nothing like looking at the positive. Glad you found you way in later schooling, and thanks for sharing.