How To Get Children Who Love To Read?

I know many parents and none of them frowns on the idea of ​​their children joining the group of children who love reading. This activity enjoys enormous social approval, it is associated with intelligence and culture. As adults, we understand that a person who reads, who enjoys the pleasure of written letters, is an educated person, curious and with enough knowledge to make valuable criticisms.

On the other hand, many of you who have come this far will share these ideas. I would dare to say that the 99% – there is always someone clueless with a great ability to be where they do not want to be. Thanks to reading, you will have lived adventures and traveled to places that you would not have known otherwise. In an instant we can be in Brazil and in five minutes have landed in Paris.

That is why I would like to start this article with a dose of reality that may be shocking to you, but that is necessary if we want children who love reading. All the ideas that have been presented so far have a lot of myth. Culture, knowledge and judgment are possible apart from reading.

In other words, nothing happens because a child does not like to read; That wish, that children be lovers of reading, is still our wish. That they are not great readers in childhood does not mean that they will never discover this pleasure, nor does it mean that they will have a poor quality of life or not to fulfill their dreams.

Let us remember this precious fragment of the film The Indomitable Will Hunting and the effects of underestimating the value of direct experience versus indirect experience – such as that offered by books.

Children who love to read, infants who enjoy

“If I talk to you about love, you will recite a sonnet to me; but you have never looked at a woman and you have felt vulnerable ”. Reading can be a wonderful activity, but it is neither the beginning nor the end. Now, it is no less true that I share your wish. I would like my loved ones to be able to enjoy the pleasure that the written word can generate… and, therefore, that my children were also part of the group of reading-loving children.

Because yes, the keyword is pleasure. A chemical taste in the brain similar to that triggered by chocolate or orgasm. The delight with the procedure itself, regardless of what it can contribute to us. Enjoy the possibility of putting ourselves in the place of others, of living in other people’s breaths, more or less long, or of knowing what is happening on the other side of the planet.

The most positive part of all this is that we, as parents or educators, can help the little ones enjoy reading. So, let’s ask ourselves a question, what do children like the most? What do we not have to force them to do?

What children like the most is playing. Play with dolls, with cars, with his friends, with us, with his brothers, with the neighbor. There is no greater motivation in childhood than a promise of fun. So, if we want children to want to read, let’s put fun and exciting books in their hands. Action packed with short descriptions. They will have time to come to realism and enjoy, for example, the works of Galdós.

In this sense, let us remember that we play the role of facilitators, never of obligors . When we force children to read, what we achieve is that it becomes an activity that only works in the presence of reinforcement or punishment.

Personally, I thank fortune for making available to me those books that I fell in love with long before those others with which I was deeply bored and that I only ended up having to pass a subject. With the latter, I think the last thing I would spend my time would be reading.

Reading as a global phenomenon

On the other hand, there is a whole world of reading beyond books. There are magazines, for example. One of the most exciting gifts for my nephews has been the subscription to one of them in which content adapted to their age is published. There are also the comics, which are packed with that same action that we talked about earlier.

Also, it is very difficult for children to approach a book if they do not see someone enjoying reading. Just as they enjoy playing, it is also a fact that, to the best of their ability, they tend to imitate adults. In this sense, as parents or educators we are an example to imitate; The good news is that we can use this reality to get children who love to read.

If they see us laughing in front of the television, they will immediately pay attention to the screen: they will understand that this object can produce funny experiences. The same will happen with a book, a comic or a magazine.

Thus, making them witnesses of how we read and how we enjoy will increase the possibility of curiosity, which is why it seems so fun that they become reading-loving children. On the contrary, if we do not enjoy reading, it will be very difficult for the rest of the initiatives to encourage them.

Finally, it should be noted that children who love reading rarely acquire this taste when we, adults, are the ones who impose certain readings on them. It is easier for us to get into the habit if the little ones have autonomy to choose the format and content. So why not leave them free in your library or in the section dedicated to them in the bookstore?

We have seen in this article how happiness is possible away from reading. We have also talked about the fact that, although this idea is true, it is no less true that reading can be a real pleasure.

Reading is a joy that we can help to experience if we make fun options available to the smallest and inspire them by letting them witness how we enjoy a magazine, a comic or a book. In this way, trips to the library or bookstore can become one of the most exciting times of the week.

Mind is Wonderful

The pleasure of reading is a tribute to freedom and imagination. But?? How to promote the habit and pleasure of reading in children …