Four Tips to Help Your Child Read Better

It’s never too early to start reading to your kids.

It’s never too early to start reading to your kids.

Reading is one of the most essential skills that a person needs to succeed in life. However, many children struggle to read, and almost all children have room for improvement. The good news is that there several things that a parent can do to help a child to learn to read better. Perhaps best of all, most of these things are easy to do and can even be fun.

 

Identify Interests

 

One of the primary reasons that kids stop developing reading skills is that children lose interest in Reading. With television, sports, and video games all vying for a child’s time, a child will often spend very little time reading. Though a parent can encourage or even force a child to read, it will be much better if the child wants to read. A parent should work to find books and other reading materials that the child will enjoy. Reading about celebrities, sports, fashion, ghosts, or anything else is fine as long as the child is reading and developing skills. A browsing trip to the library can help a child to discover books or magazines on obscure topics that may spark an interest in Reading. Many parents discourage children from reading comic books, joke books, and other non-traditional books, but any reading is beneficial and should be encouraged.

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Contact Teacher

 

A parent with a child struggling to read on grade level should arrange a meeting with that child’s teacher. The teacher may be able to provide suggestions for things to do at home to help the child read at grade level. A teacher may also have information for parents on programs in the community or otherwise available to help address reading problems. The teacher may also be able to identify some particular area of interest that the child has that the parent may be unaware of.

 

Family Reading Time

 

Parents should set aside some time each week as a family reading time. During this time, the family should sit together, and each quietly read a book of their own choice. However, with the busy lifestyles of many families, finding time to do anything can be difficult. For this reason, parents should be sure to set a realistic reading schedule that fits well with the family’s lifestyle for the reading time to be followed.

 

Set a Good Example

 

As with most everything else, the best way for a parent to encourage a child to read is to set a good example. The parent should read as much as possible and discuss the book with the kids. A parent may also want to consider setting up a family book club where everyone in the family reads the same book at once and then discusses the book. Many libraries also have family book clubs for a parent and child to read together. Anything that a parent can do which results in a child reading more will lead to that child reading better and increasing the child’s ability to succeed later in life.

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