Irvine English Tutor Tips: Five Ways to Get Your Kid to Love Reading

Tips from an Irvine English Tutor: Five ways to get your kid to love reading

Reading is such an integral part of a young child’s ongoing education, and they will do better in nearly every academic subject if they love reading from an early age. Unfortunately, reading is one of the most difficult academic tasks a young child will face and sometimes the frustration leads them to dislike the activity altogether. Luckily, there are tons of ways to get your kid to love reading during that crucial period when they decide whether or not they are going to love school or hate it – our private Irvine .

1. A picture is worth 1,000 words

When your kids start reading, they might have trouble picturing what’s going on in their mind. At the beginning having lots of pictures to look at will help them visualize what’s happening with the characters and the setting so they can understand the general plot and the point of the story. Once kids can create their moving picture in their imagination, they can get away from illustrations, but it’s an important part of learning to read.

2. A topic they enjoy

A lot of academic reading covers information that young kids aren’t necessarily super interested in and so they start to view reading as something negative. Once kids are older they’ll have to learn to push through to complete homework and study for exams but, when they’re little, it’s important that they’re reading about a topic they enjoy. If they like superheroes they can, read about Batman, if they like baseball or unicorns they should read about that. In the beginning, it’s not about what they’re reading but that they’re reading about something they love (READ: 5 Tips to Encourage Your Child to Read).

3. A hero to root for

Little kids love to be able to look up to a hero or heroine that can swoop in and save the day. A lot of books for young readers have a sympathetic and heroic main character that the reader can root for throughout the story. A hero isn’t always a superhero, rather they might be a little boy in a neighborhood similar to the one the reader lives in, or they might be a talking bunny living on a farm. It’s just important that the main character is sympathetic and easy to relate to.

4. Tackle reading in small amounts

Another thing that can put kids off reading when they’re young is being forced to tackle this difficult new skill for long periods of time. If they’re struggling with sounding out words, sitting down for an hour might be entirely overwhelming. In the beginning, kids can work on words for 15 minutes and build up to 20 and then 30 minutes overtime. They should also have a chance to celebrate their newfound skills by reading at the same level for a little while before they’re pushed to learn even more. When kids feel relaxed about something and can take enough breaks, they tend to love any activity.

5. A cozy environment

At school kids will be sitting in a straight back chair at a desk and quite likely wearing clothes that adhere to a dress code. When reading at home, it’s important they have a comfy environment so they can focus on reading rather than sitting up straight. Maybe they’re lounging on the couch, sitting in a window seat, or even cuddled up with the family pet while reading in bed. As long as they’re comfortable kids are more likely to enjoy learning to read and view it as an overall positive experience.

Help your kids learn to love to read, or help them improve their reading skills with private Irvine English tutoring from TutorNerds.

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