Reading has always been a big part of my life. I have always said that I am who I am because of many great books that I have read growing up.
My passion and interest in reading came from how my parents raised me and my brothers, and how they communicated with us to ask us to read. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗸𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗽𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗻𝗼𝘄, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆’𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝗶𝘁.
How do we build the habit of reading within our kids then? I’m going to tell you a story of how my parents instilled this reading habit in me.
Do you remember your parents telling you, or even you telling your kids “Wash your own plates after dinner and you will get one buck for your piggy bank” or “Take out the trash and you can get ice cream for dessert?” Well, my parents were different, instead of giving us incentives for doing chores in the house, they gave us allowances whenever we finished reading a good book. I remember telling my dad, “My friend got allowances for taking the garbage out, why don’t we get any for doing that?” His response?
“Well maybe their parents want them to become a garbage cleaner, I am not paying you for that, you are a part of the family, now, go take the garbage out”. (No offense to parents out there doing this, but it does make sense doesn’t it?) We as parents should be encouraging positive acts and not rewarding kids for doing what they are supposed to do, we don’t praise a fish for swimming, now do we?
“Sharing is caring”, a famous phrase. It’s the same with books, you may argue that there’s no point reading so many books because we can’t recall what we’ve read anyway. That is because we don’t put to use what we read, and that’s the LAW OF LOSE! You lose what you don’t use.
A simple tip for you: Share what you have read (with friends, families, or join book clubs) and do the same for your kid, ask them the right questions. Here’s a follow-up tip that my father taught me: Ask these three questions;
- What did you love about the book?
- What did you learn from the book?
- What did you laugh about while reading the book?
One final tip that I want to leave you today: Find the right book to read. How to do that you may ask?
Watch my video to learn 3 tips on how to make reading a habit, where I share about how my parents helped us find the right books to read while empowering us to be #InControl of our decisions.
Reading has truly been one of the biggest impacts on my life. I hope it will impact yours too.
Be #incontrol of your reading and your families’ reading journey today.
One day or day one, it is your choice.
𝓓𝓻. 𝓡𝓮𝔃𝓪 𝓐𝓫𝓻𝓪𝓱𝓪𝓶