How to Get Your Kids to Love Reading

10 Tips For Raising a Bookworm

As someone who loves reading, I always imagined my kids would also be massive bookworms. I now have two boys aged ten and eight, and while the older one can often be found reading fantasy novels under the covers long after bedtime and stashing books in his school bag, the younger one prefers reciting fact books or having stories read to him at bedtime. It’s true that they both enjoy reading but their reading habits don’t necessarily mirror mine- and that’s a good thing! They’re their own people, after all.

We’re all individuals, so not every child will fall in love with reading instantly but there are ways that you can encourage a love of reading without seeming like a pushy parent. So if you want to learn how to get your kids to love reading, here are my top ten tips for raising a bookworm.

1. Start ‘em Young

You might think there’s little point in reading to a baby who has no idea what you’re saying or showing them pictures from a board book that they’re just as likely to chew as to look at but evidence has shown that early language skills impact literacy levels in later life. It follows that children who find reading easier are more likely to enjoy it and therefore choose to spend their free time doing it.

Hearing you read, even if they don’t understand the words will improve your baby’s language acquisition. And it’s not just reading that helps- talking and singing are also beneficial. Lots of libraries hold special sessions for parents and carers with young babies and toddlers, with a focus on nursery rhymes. These are a great way to introduce your little one to libraries as a fun place to visit and a good way to meet other parents and carers too.

Letting babies and toddlers explore books as objects using touch, sound, smell and yes- even taste (!) means they’ll already be familiar with books as a concept long before they’re expected to start reading them. It might seem obvious to us as adults how to hold a book, which way round the words go and what a cover, title, and author are but we’re not born knowing any of these things. We acquire our knowledge of books through experience, so the earlier your child is exposed to books, the sooner they can become familiar with them.

Introducing books to your child’s life from an early age also allows you to teach them how books should be treated. Once your child has moved on from baby board books, which are designed to withstand all manner of things from teething to drooling and they start to read picture books, your child can learn how to turn pages carefully without ripping, and how to put books away on a shelf. This will make life easier for them when they start school and are expected to treat the books at school with care and respect.

2. Stop Making it All About Books

This might sound backwards, after all, much of our reading lives are centred around books. But if you have a child who is reluctant to read, for whatever reason, taking books out of the equation can actually improve their relationship with reading.

Books can be intimidating, especially for a child just starting out on their reading journey, or for someone who struggles to read. That doesn’t have to mean they’re doomed to never enjoy reading, however. Stories can be found everywhere, not just between the pages of books.

Try finding stories in the everyday and sharing them with your child. This might require a little creativity on your part but once you start, it becomes easier to find mini-stories in the mundane. It can be something as simple as spotting a squirrel on the walk to school and chatting about where it’s going and where it’s been and what its life might be like.

A good prompt to keep in mind is ‘What if?...’

What if you took a different route home today? Who might you meet and where might you end up? What if you called in at the local shop and found everything in there had been replaced by magic items? Ask your child what it might sell and what they would choose to buy. What if you both woke up tomorrow and had superpowers? What power would they choose and how would they use it?

These ‘What if?...’ chats might only last a few minutes at most but they require imagination and curiosity and open your child’s mind to possibilities beyond the mundane.

Asking ‘What if?...’ is the foundation of creativity and a benefit to all readers.

3.  Set a Challenge

Everyone loves a challenge! If your child is generally happy to read but their habit has fallen by the wayside in favour of other activities or they haven’t picked up a book in a while, one thing that can kick-start their reading habit again or turn them from an average reader to a fully-fledged bookworm is a challenge!

You can either set one yourself, for example, a family challenge to see who can read an entire book on holiday or ask everyone to keep a tally of how many books they read before Christmas and the winner gets a surprise book under the tree.

Alternatively, you can make use of local or national reading initiatives, like your library’s summer reading challenge. Often these have incentives and prizes like stickers, bookmarks and sometimes even a free book or chance to be entered into a prize draw.

Whichever option you choose, just remember to keep it lighthearted and fun. A little healthy competition is okay, but the idea is to keep it enjoyable and stress-free.

4. Consider Alternatives

Physical books are not the only way to read. We’re lucky to live in a world where it’s never been easier to find reading materials to suit each individual reader. There’s a wealth of technology available for readers, whether that’s reading on a laptop or phone, using an e-reader or listening to an audiobook.

Thinking outside the box can not only transform your reading life but your child’s reading life too. Kids who struggle to fall asleep at night might benefit from an audiobook and headphones, there are short books designed specifically for children with dyslexia, and kids who are just learning to read will benefit from the wide variety of apps and online learning resources available.

5. Accept Their Choices

If you want your child to enjoy reading, you need to let them read things they enjoy. Sounds pretty obvious, right? But you’d be surprised at the number of parents I hear in the library telling their kids ‘You don’t want to read that!’ or ‘That’s too babyish for you.’ or ‘This is better.’

Whether it’s comics, magazines, silly books, simple picture books, books with toilet humour, books you think are ‘too tricky’ or ‘too young’ for them, audiobooks or football fact files. It might not be what you’d choose to read but then no one is asking you to!

There’s a difference between making suggestions and recommendations to a child who’s looking for them, and insulting their reading choices and insisting they read something else. In most cases telling a child to read this not that only results in them not reading anything at all.

6. Set an Example

Allow me to ask you something personal here: when was the last time you read a book? If your child never sees you reading, then your appeals for them to read are going to come across as ‘Do as I say, not as I do.’

‘But I do read!’ I hear you cry. ‘I read all the time on my phone/e-reader / tablet!’ The thing is, if your kids see you scrolling on a device, they’re more likely to assume you’re playing a game or checking social media than they are to think you’re getting stuck into your latest page-turner.

As a librarian, I often hear parents of reluctant readers lamenting the fact their child never picks up a book but they’ll often admit it’s been a while since they have too. Modelling is an important way children learn behaviours and habits. So why not use this as an opportunity to revive your own reading habits and see if your child follows suit?

7. Don’t Make Reading a Chore

One way to get kids to read is to make it a ‘must do’ task before doing something else they actually want to do. Telling them that they need to read one chapter of a book before having screen time might seem a good idea at first glance but this can backfire horribly.

You’re not trying to get your kids to read through gritted teeth, you’re trying to instil a love of reading. In that case, reading should be a reward and pleasure in itself, not a necessary evil to get to do the ‘fun’ thing afterwards.

If you make reading a chore, it becomes akin to making your kid clear their plate to get dessert- they very well might do it, but how many of us hate foods we were forced to ‘finish’ as a kid? And how many of us would choose to eat that now as an adult?

Resist the urge to add ‘read’ to your child’s daily to-do list. Your intentions might be good, but the risk of putting them off reading altogether is too great.

8. Surround Them With Books

If you want your kids to love reading, you’re going to need plenty of things for them to read!

Not all of us have the means or space to furnish our homes with a personal library but that’s where public libraries come in. Make regular visits to your local library and if possible, take trips to other libraries around your area. Get to know the collections and the wide variety of reading materials available. Libraries are no longer about dusty shelves and great literary tomes. Most kids will be pleasantly surprised by the range on offer including audiobooks, children’s adaptations of classics and new releases.

Don’t be afraid to make requests or order books in if there’s something they particularly want to read that your library doesn’t have. Most public library services in the UK will allow users to put in requests and will either order the book specifically or source it from another library.

Don’t forget to make use of secondhand bookshops and charity shops too. You can pick up some real bargains here. Likewise, if your area holds book swaps or has a community library you can expand your child’s reading possibilities that way.

9. Share Your Love of Reading

To encourage a passion for reading, be willing to show yours. Make reading a part of your conversations with your child. Ask them about books they’re reading at school and tell them what you’re reading right now. You might not want to share the details of the gritty thriller that’s keeping you up at night but you don’t have to. It’s easy to talk about books in a non-specific way by saying what you’re enjoying about it (‘It’s keeping me guessing all the time!’) or not (‘The chapters are too long!’)

If your children are younger, you could take it in turns to choose their bedtime story and rate each other’s choices. Ask them why they always pick a particular book- what is it about it that keeps them going back for more? Share your favourite picture books from your own childhood with them and ask for their opinions. Even very young children can usually let you know if they like something or not- in fact, they often have very strong opinions that they’re not afraid to share!

If your children are old enough to enjoy middle-grade or YA chapter books, you could borrow two copies from the library and both read it at the same time and then compare notes. 

10. Don’t Read!

There are many other ways humans have found to tell stories that don’t involve reading at all- art, dance, music, spoken word, plays and films. All these things can convey stories, meaning and facts without the requirement to read.

You’re probably thinking that avoiding reading is a strange way to get your child to love reading and wondering if I’ve forgotten the title of this piece, but trust me on this one. If your kid doesn’t enjoy reading despite your best efforts, then there’s no harm in taking a step back and considering if there are other ways to spark their imagination with zero pressure.

Other forms of media can be just as inspiring and convey just as much meaning. How many of us as adults have cried at a TV show, been transported from our seats at a play, or been moved by a piece of music?

Discovering that a film they’ve enjoyed was based on a book or wanting to read their favourite musician’s biography might encourage even the most reluctant reader to reconsider their stance on reading but even if it doesn’t, your child’s world will be rounder and fuller from the variety.

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A love of reading is a wonderful thing to share with your child and it’s only natural that those of us who love to read as adults would want to pass on our literary love to our children. It won’t always follow that our kids are as receptive to our passion for reading as we might like them to be but that doesn’t mean we can’t (gently) encourage a love of reading by using tips like the ones I’ve shared here.

It’s worth remembering that no matter how many books your kid reads (or doesn’t!) the fact that they have a parent who is willing to devote time and energy to sharing their joy of reading with them will benefit them in life whether they turn out to be a bookworm or not.