Raising Lifelong Readers
January is the perfect time to snuggle up and read with your family. Whether it’s quietly reading books next to each other or reading aloud together, you can enjoy quality time as a family and set your children up to be lifelong readers.
Some tips to make reading fun and engaging:
- Don’t be shy about using different voices, inflections, or other ways to animate the story audially.
- Even if your children can read for themselves, continue reading aloud for as long as you can (or as long as they will let you!). In our home, we have certain series (such as Harry Potter, or the Rick Riordan Greek and Roman mythology series) that are reserved just for me to read to my children.
- Physical touch like cuddling or rubbing your child’s back can provide a sense of grounding and associates reading (even on their own) as a pleasurable activity.
- If your child doesn’t like to sit still for reading, offer something for them to do with their hands, such as coloring, playdough, or LEGOs while you read aloud.
- Discuss the books you read during or after, and define new words in their context to help build vocabulary.
- Let your kids see you reading — books, magazines, the newspaper — to model this as a lifelong habit.
Looking for book recommendations? Feel free to reach out and ask me! I’m also not proprietary about my hot chocolate recipe and will happily share when asked!
Warmly,
Sarah
Additional Resources