Help me, help you, help your child succeed at reading
Today’s students live in a rapidly changing digital world. Technology touches every aspect of school and home life. In the face of rapid change, one thing remains constant: Students need to read proficiently for social and academic success.
The parents of our current grade-school children are expert at receiving and adapting to new information. They expect to receive instant and actionable answers to their questions.
When a parent shows up in your library or classroom asking how they can make their own digital native into a reader, you need to be ready with practical steps they can immediately employ.
Below are 4 tactics to have at the ready when a parent asks about reading. Each tactic is stated as a question you can ask to spur useful discussion with a parent Millennial.
- Do you have reading time scheduled on your phone?
Reading won’t happen in a busy home by accident. Today’s young parents put every appointment in the phone. Ask parents to make a daily repeating appointment for reading time.
Stand there and ask mom and dad to make a calendar appointment for reading, right now. They’ll do it. Then every day at 8:45 PM, or whenever they made the appointment, the phone will chime or buzz—reading will occur.
- Have you taken your child to a library or bookstore for a no-pressure visit?
We love to work in superlatives nowadays. We constantly ask our kids “what’s your favorite. . .” or, “what’s the worst. . .” A question with a best or worst answer sounds fun, but, is high pressure. Asking a child to choose one book in an entire library to bookstore can be stressful.
Suggest that the parents take the child to a library or book store. Ask the child to find two or three books he or she would like to read. Don’t follow them. Let the child explore and end up wherever they want. Picking multiple books take the pressure out of the decision. Parents might be surprised at what books come back. It will be fun to talk about what books they selected.
- What are you reading?
Children model the habits and behavior of their parents. If they never see a parent reading, how can a parent expect a child to believe that reading is important?
Ask parents to find a book and turn off the TV, or put down the phone. Read conspicuously—don’t be obnoxious about it. The simple visual of parents reading books tells a child that reading is important to the family. Going along with scheduling reading time, suggest making time for everyone—putting the phones and TVs aside for a given time frame.
- What is your son or daughter reading now?
Children of all ages love to show off what they know and what they’ve read. Encourage parents to stay on top of what their child is reding. Asking questions about characters, plots and more allows a child to show off what they’ve read and what they’ve learned.
Parents need to be prepared to learn about details in books they would never read. Let children shine!
The goal with the tactics above is to be ready. Ready to give practical suggestions that are easy to apply in any family situation.
Building readers in the age of the internet and the ubiquitous glowing screen is a new and daunting challenge. But, it’s not insurmountable.
Teachers and librarians can be invaluable in building cultures of reading in the families they work with. It just takes being prepared when a moment for teaching, parents and children, arises.