How to motivate your child to read independently?

[naggo-nitemare]

Do to ur DD what the tv soaps do to soap addicts. The cliffhanger. Haha!

When my DS was learning to read, I would read a book with him until the plot reaches a nail biting twist. Then I would excuse myself for housework or some other tasks. I would tell him that if he needs to find out what happened, he would hv to either wait a long time till I am done with my work or even better, he could find out how the plot progressed by reading on himself. Never fails. He would always read on alone.

[jedamum]

For my son, it always take more effort to start a new book. For new books, I will tell him he only gets to read 1 chapter before say dinner, homework, bedtime whenever we start a new book. So for those books he doesn’t like, we ditch it after that. For those he likes, he will beg to read more and I will let him read one more chapter and no more til next time. Like what naggonitemare mentioned, cliffhang them!

[6thisnthat9]

PlayfulFairy:

Hi,


I have a P1 gal. She has the ability to read chapter books like Enid Blyton, Ellie Belly. However, she doesn't like to read by herself as she prefers to role-play with me.

I have set a reading chart at home. For every five books she reads, she can redeem a prize. At first, it works. After some time, she only reads when I ask her to or when we role play.

How would you solve this problem? Thanks in advance!

Must understand and find the root of the problem. Is she doing something else to occupy that time? Usually kids will occupy themselves with things they like to do instead. So for example, a child has some other choices of playing ipad, rather than opening up a book, the quick response and interactive nature, of gadgets activities will definitely be more tempting than books. Or if the whole family is watching tv programmes, it is more sociable to join in the fun.

if the child only has homework, assessment books/practices and reading a storybook, to choose from ...LOL you will be surprised how reading a book becomes another set of issues (too much indulgence), haha...

If the child likes dinosaurs, laying books on dinosaurs everywhere in the house is a good way to catch the child's attention.

Hope your DD catch the self-reading bug soon!!

[sharonkhoo]

Do you spend much time playing with her? It could be that the insistence on role-play is because she wants more of your time? Even after my younger daughter could read, she still wanted me to read to her, so we still set aside read-aloud time as well as read-alone time each day until she was about 8yo. We also had a set 30 mins for reading every day so that it became a habit.

[EffectiveTuition]

I myself love to read. That got my kids curious, from a young age. A lot of their pocket money is spent on books, magazines or now that they are older, online subscriptions to business journals. Of course, when they run low on cash, I give them money to top up their wallets

[ThinkEnglish]

It may be a possibility to come up with a list of age appropriate good reads and give your kid choices on what she would like to read. You can even turn it into a treasure book hunt if you have checked that the books you are looking for are available at the library, and your kid can be given the challenge of finding the books herself.

[zac's mum]

This cliffhanger idea given by the earlier parent is good! Did it work on your girl?


I would suggest letting your girl choose books of her own liking (subject to your approval). My own boy did not like whatever I chose. And I tried all the classics! Dr Seuss, Famous Five, Geronimo Stilton...all failed to capture his interest, whether accompanied or not. Then one day at the library, I let him pick out what books he wanted to borrow...voila, he zoomed straight to the non-fiction books! Children's guide to the solar system (with lots of pictures)...What do astronauts do? At Popular, he asked me to buy the thick set of Young Scientist and Smart Mathematician magazines...came home devoured them independently for nearly 1 hour at a stretch...my jaw really dropped! That started his first independent reading at K2 and he picked up so many English words all on his own.

Now that he's in P1, he choose his own books from the school library, which has a wonderful collection of boys' themed books: Lego Ninjago and Star Wars story books, Zac Power and Beast Quest story books, even Pokemon and Plants vs Zombies in Chinese! Yes in Chinese. I'm a very happy mum seeing him reading independently in Chinese :imcool:

[mathtuition88]

PlayfulFairy:

Hi,


I have a P1 gal. She has the ability to read chapter books like Enid Blyton, Ellie Belly. However, she doesn't like to read by herself as she prefers to role-play with me.

I have set a reading chart at home. For every five books she reads, she can redeem a prize. At first, it works. After some time, she only reads when I ask her to or when we role play.

How would you solve this problem? Thanks in advance!

I think books with more pictures (color preferred) would help to attract young children to read. Enid Blyton is nice and has pictures, but if I remember correctly only every few pages and also black and white.

Books that are related to TV series could be very popular with children too. E.g. Peppa Pig (though that is probably too simple for Singapore P1 standard)

[MrsKiasu]

zac's mum:

This cliffhanger idea given by the earlier parent is good! Did it work on your girl?


I would suggest letting your girl choose books of her own liking (subject to your approval). My own boy did not like whatever I chose. And I tried all the classics! Dr Seuss, Famous Five, Geronimo Stilton...all failed to capture his interest, whether accompanied or not. Then one day at the library, I let him pick out what books he wanted to borrow...voila, he zoomed straight to the non-fiction books! Children's guide to the solar system (with lots of pictures)...What do astronauts do? At Popular, he asked me to buy the thick set of Young Scientist and Smart Mathematician magazines...came home devoured them independently for nearly 1 hour at a stretch...my jaw really dropped! That started his first independent reading at K2 and he picked up so many English words all on his own.

Now that he's in P1, he choose his own books from the school library, which has a wonderful collection of boys' themed books: Lego Ninjago and Star Wars story books, Zac Power and Beast Quest story books, even Pokemon and Plants vs Zombies in Chinese! Yes in Chinese. I'm a very happy mum seeing him reading independently in Chinese :imcool:

yeah my dd2 also started with YS. initially on pics only and without realizing it she begins to read then write..not much but i was rather happy and her teacher too. chinese few words here and there.