The Love of Reading- How to Inculcate in your Child

One of the best memories from my childhood is browsing through the bookshelf at my maternal grandmother’s (Nani’s) home. It had the richest collection of Indian comics personally curated by my youngest uncle (Mama). It was there that I got introduced to Chacha Chaudhary, Pinki, Nagraj, Parmanu, Super Commando Dhruv, Bankelal and many others. I used to look forward to travelling there every summer vacation and in the absence of distractions like cable TV or the internet in those days, the best way to spend the lazy afternoons was to read and re-read those gems.

Fast forward to today’s fast paced “click and go” era, we are basically reading all the time be it our mails, notifications and even quick pieces of news/articles on the internet but reading as a hobby, as an interest slowly seems to be declining. The act of sitting and going through an entire novel seems too much of work. I doubt how many kids would grow up to say that their idea of a Sunday afternoon is the rich aroma of coffee mixed with the earthy smell of their book pages.

I used to teach a pre-teen a few years back. A bright little girl not older than 10. She used to be excited about browsing stuff through her computer or mobile but never agreed for reading a single book the entire time. Reading for her was just limited to the course material and even that she was never happy about. She took it as a job and never hid her dislike for it. In fact I am yet to find a pre-teen or a teenager with their favourite list of books. Ask them their favourite gaming apps and they might come up with a few.

Are you concerned that your child spends too much of their time in front of the screen? You feel they show no inclination towards books or reading. Are you wondering how to inculcate a reading habit in your child?

How to Inculcate a Reading Habit in your Child?

• Kids basically learn by observing, mimicking and repeating from a very young age. If you find your child too much inclined to the mobile screen, try to look at you routine. Do you check your mobile phone the moment you get up in the morning? Do you fall asleep while browsing through your phone? Do you spend most of your day in front of the screen? If the answer is Yes, then it is obvious that you kid finds the mobile or laptop screen very fascinating because that is in their eyes the adult thing to do. Too much of screen time correlates to a short attention span which in turn further affects concentration while reading.

• Try to spend some time reading to your child. They need not be at the age to even understand what you are reading. Introduce them to soft touch ‘n’ feel books from a very young age. You can move onto the brightly colored board books soon after. Let them touch the pages. Watch them get fixated on the vibrant pictures.

• If you yourself love reading you can read in front of your child. Surround yourself with your favourite books and talk to them about it. This will encourage them to follow your example.

• Encourage older kids to pick books of their choice. I remember how eagerly I used to wait for my bi-monthly subscription of Champak. Try to build such excitement around the various options that they have and respect their choice.

• Make gifting books as much of a norm as gifting toys or clothes. Next time when it is a friend’s birthday, have your little one pick a book for gifting. In this way, they will also have the scope to talk among themselves about their favorite book or character.

• Let them retell stories that they like with an added touch of their imagination and applaud them. Play around with them by enacting their favourite characters. Have story night as a family time. This will not just encourage your kid to be ready with a new story every week but also be a source of fun for the entire family.

Summing Up

A decent reading habit is an important pillar for education and therefore no doubt that you realise the importance of cultivating it. But at the same time, don’t be disheartened if your child does not turn out to be an avid reader as you expected them to be. Some children will do a fine job just reading from their studies point of view and will have other interests in their free time. Not every person’s idea is a good book to spend their time. You can do your best to inculcate a reading habit in them. Whether that habit will turn into a hobby completely depends on the individual that your child is.

Let me know in the comments which are the books your child loves to read. Also don’t forget to check out How a Virtual Voice Assistant can be useful with Toddlers.