Parents, prepare yourselves; it’s going to happen soon if it hasn’t already. Your young children, those little angels who couldn’t wait for summer vacation to start, are going to utter the dreaded “b” word. Despite your concierge-level curation of activities, adventures, and experiences skillfully alchemized with just the right amount of “free time,” be assured you will hear “Mooooooooommmmmm, I’m BORED!” punctuated by, if your child has any sort of dramatic calling, a breathy sigh and a self-inflicted body slam onto the nearest piece of overstuffed furniture.
When that happens, you merely need to look to your child’s bookshelf for a healthy supply of antidotes. Here are six suggestions to keep your children engaged with reading all summer long.
1. Read aloud with your kids
Certainly, this is necessary if your children are not yet able to read on their own, but even more important if they are. Reading to your children is a wonderful, shared experience. There are few things more soul-affirming than sitting close to your child, hearing their laughter, understanding their sadness, feeling their fear . . . and then turning a few more pages and making everything right again.
Reading with your child builds a bond as well a habit, both of which are likely to remain intact as your child matures, and stronger attractions take precedence. You will always have the common ground of books as a catalyst for questions and discussion.
2. Let your kids see you reading
If you prioritize reading for yourself, they will incorporate the value of the habit. Our children are mimics and, as parents and caregivers, we are their primary models. When they see you engrossed in a great book, they will want the same experience. And when your children see you reading a book of your choice, you are demonstrating a basic and necessary example of self-care.
3. Take a visual stroll through a picture book before reading it
This is especially important for children who are just beginning to read or are not yet readers. By first going through the pages and talking about the pictures, you are allowing your little ones to write their own stories. Ask for their own interpretation of what’s happening in each illustration and make notes of their responses. You might be surprised by their ideas, and they might be surprised by how closely, or not, they predicted the actual story.
If their story is different from that of the author, invite your child to draw original illustrations according to his or her personal interpretation and then help the child fashion those drawings into yet another great book.
4. Encourage playacting from their favorite books
If you have budding thespians in your household, challenge your daughter and her cousin to act out a favorite scene from Charlotte’s Web or suggest your son and his swim pals become the future wizards of Hogwarts for a Friday afternoon performance. Even your nonreaders will have heard certain stories enough times to become a Hungry Caterpillar, a Wild Thing or some of my personal favorites, Charlotte, Penelope or a member of Their Magical Menagerie.
5. Keep their bookshelves updated
Your kids’ reading material needs to stay fresh to stay appealing. However, this doesn’t necessarily obligate you to purchase new books on a weekly basis.
If buying books isn’t on your agenda when your child hits the summer doldrums, introduce – or re-introduce – them to your local library. For many kids, having their own library card is a treasured rite of passage. Make regular trips to the library and let your children make their own selections. If they need help, teach them to enlist the assistance of the children’s librarian. Doing that builds their ability to communicate one-on-one with an authoritative helper, thus building their self-confidence. And when they make their own reading choices, they take ownership of the results. In addition, you might learn something new about your child’s interests. Your kid has never mentioned a fascination with tornadoes? You might have a future meteorologist in your midst.
What if regular trips to the library aren’t in the cards? Set up your own lending library with other kids in your neighborhood, with family members or players from the same sports team. At scheduled times, each child in the group can choose a book from their own collection to present to the others, and they all leave with a book that’s new to them. At summer’s end, all the books are returned to the original owners, and the children can vote on their favorite summer reads.
6. Finally, remember that reading is reading
While books are of utmost importance, help your children build their reading skills by taking part in everyday household activities. While preparing a meal, enlist your son’s help to read the recipe out loud. If you’re planting a garden, ask your daughter to read the growing tips on the seed packet. Younger ones can practice word recognition using shapes, colors and pictures on traffic signs or grocery store packaging. And a dictionary app is one of the most important features to add to your phone so you can immediately look up any word that might stump you and/or your child.
Studies have proven that children who read on their own are more prone to improved cognitive development, higher academic achievement, a greater degree of imagination and creativity, and stronger emotional intelligence. Helping your child develop a love of reading at an early age is a gift for these immediate dog days of summer and one that will grow in value for many years to come.
—written by Teresa Argenbright
Teresa Argenbright was lucky to have been raised by a mother who loved crossword puzzles and invented silly words to solve them. She developed her own love for language that grew through her experiences writing advertising campaigns, non-profit grant requests, and fun poems for friends and family. Teresa splits her time between Fort Worth, Texas, and the mountains of Colorado. When she’s not creating stories, she can likely be found on the nearest dancefloor. Charlotte and Penelope and the Neighborhood Stage is her second installment in the Charlotte and Penelope series.
For information regarding Charlotte and Penelope and Their Magical Menagerie, visit www.teresaargenbright.com.
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