How to get kids to read for pleasure AND with comprehension

[history nerd]

Teachers can give children more choice of readings in order to make their comprehension based assignments more enjoyable.

Parents can read with and discuss books with their children to make their enjoyment more instructive of reading comprehension.

[andherewego]

Tell them they can’t be on screens. They get bored and find a book and a blanket. Hours later they are still curled up working on their comprehension and loving their book.

In all seriousness, it doesn’t matter what they are reading. The only thing that matters is that they are reading.

[Coldjensens]

Read to them when they are young. Let them see you reading for pleasure regularly. You cannot force or compel kids to read for pleasure.


It helps if they are inept at sports and socially awkward

[Bungalove]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

Read to them when they are young. Let them see you reading for pleasure regularly. You cannot force or compel kids to read for pleasure.


It helps if they are inept at sports and socially awkward

I wasn't socially awkward when I was growing up, but I was never much interested in sports. My parents couldn't have kept me from reading if they'd have tried. I would have snuck books if they'd forbidden me to read as a punishment. Every member of my family read voraciously. I still take a book with me everywhere in case I have to wait; I can't stand being without my "fix".

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Not too many things are worse than being forced to read a book that is extremely boring. In 9th grade we were required to read "A Tale of Two Cities". For the life of me I could not get past the 1st chapter. It was too much description and not enough conversation to hold my interest. Plus the story took place in a foreign country and a couple hundred years prior I could not relate anything in my life to.

When it came time do the book report, I reported exactly how and why the book could not hold my attention, and how difficult it was for me to concentrate on what I was reading and many pages I had to re-read and my opinion of the book. I noted how the book went 40 pages with no conversation. The teacher gave me a B+ for my report when I was kind of expecting her to give me a "D" because I admitted I did not read the entire book. She seemed to appreciate my honesty as all the other kids gave glowing reviews in their book report, even though many felt about the book same way I did. I think they thought they would get a better grade by giving the book a good review.

Later that same year we were required to read "To Kill A Mockingbird", and I enjoyed reading that book. The story was something I could relate to and understand and it took place in a time that was still fairly current. To this day, it is still one of my all-time favorite books.

If you want to permanently turn a kid off to reading books, force them to read a book that the story takes place in a foreign country 2 or 300 years ago and is about something the kid has no interest in. If not for TKAM, I mighta got turned off permanently to reading for pleasure. Instead I was permanently turned off to Charles Dickens books.

[TabulaRasa]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

Read to them when they are young. Let them see you reading for pleasure regularly. You cannot force or compel kids to read for pleasure.

Yes.

It helps if they are inept at sports and socially awkward

Nah.

I have a highly social and quite athletically inclined, physically active little boy who lives for books. He finagled about four extra books at bedtime just tonight.

He does have two bookworm parents and four bookworm grandparents, and has literally been read to since the night he was born. His little sister, who is one, is well on her way, as well.

It's either something built into your culture, or it isn't.

[DanArt]

Give me a break. Here is how it gos.

Women will read those romance novels. The kind that expansion on the flesh. It is the same with theater. All of it tailored for women. Take those Sunday mid-morning afternoon shows like

Robocop
Superman ( Superboy, Lois and Clark )
Highlander ( TV series )
Beast Master


All of those shows while directed towards men are actually romance novels directed towards women. rewritten to appeal to women while appealing to men at the same time.

........

For boys now you have to understand what they are into and actually make it fun. Things that relates to their reality. If you neglect a boy the most he will touch is a comic book, or even anime ( graphic novel ), or the text in a videogame.

I have literally seen a college students use "Tom Clancy" ( Splinter Cell ) as an example in his speech report. With the proffessor auwhing "Tome Clancy writing was used in videogames?" .........

It is all about reaching that age of maturity in my opinion or what they want. Recently I have been very found of "Fahrenheit 451" and since then I have literally been reading books or something and I wish I was a fireman a little. However again you need to understand that women are about the joys of the world and men are about the struggles of the world

[Coldjensens]

I think today's answer might be: "Put it on the internet."

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by TabulaRasa

Yes.




Nah.

I have a highly social and quite athletically inclined, physically active little boy who lives for books. He finagled about four extra books at bedtime just tonight.

He does have two bookworm parents and four bookworm grandparents, and has literally been read to since the night he was born. His little sister, who is one, is well on her way, as well.

It's either something built into your culture, or it isn't.

Give him a few years and get back to us when he is in college. He will go in one direction or the other. There are very few very rare examples of kids who get popular, or get into sports, or band, and continue reading for pleasure on a regular basis. They simply do not have time, unless that is their priority.

If your kid is spending 3-5 hours a day training for a sport and doing their homework, that is all they can reasonably do. They are not going to have time for reading. The same is true of social kids. If they have free time, they would rather spend it with heir friends instead of in a corner reading. There is not time for both.

The concept of my kid can do it all, is just as absurd as the burden we now place on women (i.e. I can to it all - professional career, full time mother, home manager, supportive spouse, etc.). You cannot. It may be unpopular to admit this, but it is reality.

[silibran]

Not every kid can be manipulated into a love of reading. None of my kids were big readers when they were young. I, their mother, read a lot, and there were always books around. I figured that example and opportunity would be big influencers. As adults, two of the three will read books. One, as far as I can see, does not. All my kids read well enough to get advanced degrees, and all three are successful adults.

One of my grands struggles with reading. He does some reading for pleasure, but I sense he’d rather be playing games on a screen. His parent was similar, but with TV, as I remember. His parent is one of my reading kids.

The important thing, IMO, is that children master reading. They need reading mastery, and critical thinking skills, which can come from studying literature. Later as they move toward a thinking profession, the critical thinking should be sharpened.

But not every person is going to read recreationally. It is important to achieve mastery in reading however. So—schools teach literature. Kids are introduced to important literary works. This is what education does. It educates. But every child introduced to literature will not become a recreational reader.

My DH never read recreationally, ever, until he retired. He is a slow reader, but he is dogged. He has discovered non-fiction. I would not say he is the consumer of the written word that I am, but he will read popular history with enjoyment. For Christmas, he actually asked for a book!