The secret of turning non-readers into readers is by making reading fun. Your children may have forgotten how entertaining reading can be. Start them back on the path to enjoying reading by reading aloud to them when they are doing chores like washing the dishes or ironing and even while they are eating a meal.
Begin by choosing reading materials that will make them chuckle and even laugh. Remember how they enjoyed "The Cat in the Hat"? They'll find the poems of Shel Silverstein, Jack Prelutsky, and Bruce Lansky just as entertaining. Go online to www.trelease-on-reading.com/home.html for great lists of books. Plus, Trelease gives solid advice on instilling a love of reading in children.
Once your children are enjoying reading, establish a family reading time of 20 to 30 minutes each day. Right after dinner is a good time. Don't allow any interruptions, and let your children read whatever they want from teen magazines to comic books to mysteries, romances, and adolescent fiction. Read silently or take turns reading a book. Be sure to read some of the books or magazines that they read so you can talk about them together.
Here are some more suggestions on ways to get your children in the reading habit: play books-on-tape in the car; have magazines, including teen magazines, around the house; let your children see you reading for fun; have reading materials in every room of the house (kitchen, bathroom, family room, bedrooms); have your older children read to younger children; and visit libraries and bookstores with your children.
