Older children between the age of 8 to 14 are usually already on their own and require their own space and time to do things. Without putting too much pressure on them, you could try out these simple tips to help them enjoy reading!
• Try to share books and comments or opinions together each day and not just at bedtime.
• Read or tell them stories in the language you are most comfortable with. It doesn’t have to be English! Sometimes, they do like it.
• Tell them stories about your culture and your family, about an adventure that you had.
• Visit the local library along with your child. Borrow books to share with your child at home.
• Encourage older children to read to their younger brothers and sisters.
• Be an example to your children; let them see you read books too.
In addition, you can help an older reader in these ways:
• Put the books at home to good use. Show them the book and give a brief about it and something that would interest them.
• Make the most of the books your child brings home from school. Read them or parts of them yourself and talk about them with your child.
• Allow your child to re-read favourite and familiar stories or to hear you re-read them. Knowing a familiar book will help them notice more about the words on the page and they will start to recognize the patterns in new words and stories.
• Make them read out aloud to younger children, complete with emotions and animations (depending on the book) at the next get-together you have.
• Listen to stories learned by heart and encourage your child to re-tell them in her own words or even act them out.
• Buy books as gifts instead of video games or other toys.
• Set up a special place for books from the library or their own books.
• Find books about something you know they like.
Budding Artists
Drawing it out:
If your child is not interested in reading you may want to read to him and then let him draw a picture of the story. This will make them enjoys books and stories in a new way and also because he has learned to listen to the story and then put it on paper.
Writing it out:
Let them write their own book about a subject that interests them in their own words. It will be a great confidence booster for them and you too!
Take a blank paper, cut it into quarters and staple the book together along the longer side. Then ask them to pick something they like and write a title and draw a title picture on the front. Then on each left page they write a fact about the subject. And on the right page they draw and colour a picture about the sentence or sentences they wrote on the opposite page. For the younger 8-year-old’s it will be a sense of achievement and for the older 12-year-old’s it will be a cakewalk and let them relive their childhood once again! Either way, it works!
Chapters
A chapter a day always helps children look forward to what will happen in the next one. Make it a tradition and continue reading a chapter every night before going to bed. Have them pick the story and discuss it with them briefly during the day to keep them interested.
Brownie Points
Having reading rewards is another booster to keep your children to enjoy reading and the perks that come along with it. Create summer reading goals with rewards and let your child select what he wants for each reading goal. Books that were both challenging to read and had subjects that they would be interested in are advisable.
Depending on the size and difficulty of the books, assign a number of points for each book and you could have three reading point’s goal and each goal a prize. Make a small scorecard and add the points to it and the end of each book. At the end of it, they will read (and enjoy) to get what they want!
It is never too late for your child to start reading. Preferably, catch the child young. Bring him other colourful books, so that reading becomes a favourite pastime. The parent has also got to read enough in order to become a model for the little one. And not to forget, family reading is the best way to grow.
Treasure House’s Popular Series for Ages 9 – 12:
1) Percy Jackson
2) Harry Potter
3) Famous Five
4) Septimus Heap
5) 39 Clues
6) Anthony Howritz
Visit the Library
A very good habit that you can cultivate in your child is to make them visit a local neighbourhood library like Treasure House, even if it is for a couple of hours or half-an-hour! Just by spending some time there, in the quietude, amongst an array of varied books, they will be able to slowly but surely befriend the books and start enjoying their company more. It will help them know more about the books, imbibe a habit of glancing, reviewing and selecting books that they could pick up to read and more so, enjoy!
(This is the third in a series of articles. The others will give more tips on how to engage your older children into reading more!)