I don’t want to brag (OK, maybe I do want to a little) but I have two very smart daughters. My oldest is 7 and is one of the best students in her second grade class and my youngest, who is 2, is learning new things every day.
When it comes to their smarts, I give credit to one thing, their love of reading.
When my wife and I first became parents, we were told, by a number of people, that the best thing we could do for our kids was encourage them to read. And, we stuck with that. However, with things like television and video games out there, we did find it was sometimes hard to make books seem more interesting. But, we did succeed with both of them by doing a few different things.
One of the first things we did was read to them. My youngest daughter can’t read books herself yet and is read to exclusively. But, I also do still take the time to read to my oldest daughter too. Not only is this a great way to bond with your kids, it introduces them to a world they might not otherwise realize is there.
One thing I do recommend with this is making sure you plan ahead so you have plenty of time to read more than one book if they want it. This allows you to read their favorite stories while mixing in something new too.
Another thing I started doing with my oldest daughter is having her read to her younger sister. This gives her practice reading out loud (something she gets to do at school and loves) and I’ve noticed my 2-year-old seems to pay closer attention to the stories for some reason. In fact, it’s one of the few times they can be left alone together for more than a few minutes without fighting.
The second thing we do with our kids is we challenge them to read outside their level. In addition to books that are more for her age group, I have given my oldest daughter books that are a little more complicated. I do this so she doesn’t get bored with “kids” books.
For example, the other day, I had her try to read a Sherlock Holmes story. It ended up being a bit too hard. But, she did understand it enough where she wants to try to read it again (with my help). I also encourage her to read the newspaper and magazines.
I do the same thing when I read to my youngest daughter and will sometimes borrow one of her sister’s books. So far, she’s still paying attention when I read them.
Third, and most important, I let them be kids. Reading is a great thing. But, you can get too much of a great thing too. So, in addition to having them read on a regular basis, I let them mix in television, video games, etc. This keeps reading a bit more exciting for them because they are doing it because they want to rather than because I’m forcing them to read instead of letting them do other things.
Another nice advantage of letting them watch TV, play games, etc. is you can usually find books based off of characters they see. This, of course, makes it easier to keep them interested in reading.
There are plenty advantages to having children who like to read. If you take the time to get them interested and keep them interested, they will love doing it.