How Can We Raise Our Kids to Read More Books?

Soon our 2-week winter break will already begin. Have you created your winter break bucket list? How about reading a sweet story book with your child with a hot chocolate with bunch of marshmallows. *^^*

Happiness that a book gives… people say to make someone enjoy something, you must make them feel happy while doing it. When I think about it now, I have many happy memories of reading books with my mother as a child. And as my first daughter grew up, I thought to myself, it would be nice if she too felt the happiness I felt from books.

When my first daughter was a baby, I sat down and read books to her with funny sounds. One or two times a week I took her to the bookstore and in the quiet and deep atmosphere that only a bookstore can give, I let my child touch and read various books. Honestly, this entire process is not always a happy one for mothers. You have to sit down with your child on the floor of the bookstore, take out this book and that book, and read over and over again… Also, every night, when she took out piles of books, a wave of tiredness stormed over me. But through these times, my child started to see the happiness books can give. My daughter, who is now a middle school student ... says she still gets a tingling feeling when opening the first page of a new book.

I read to you everyday, but what is the problem..? But my second child was a bit different. It took so long for her to read a book and learn to enjoy it by herself. Is it because the tendency of my child was different? Now when I look back, I realize that it was not because of the tendency of my child, but I, her mother, who had made a mistake. I just said that in order to like something, you must feel happiness about it. right?

In order for that to happen...

First, you must find books that best fits your child’s needs and interests.

By the time my second child was interested in books, we already had a book shelf filled from my first child. Naturally, instead of taking my second child to the bookstore to pick out books she would like to read, we picked her sister’s books from the bookshelf and read them. The old books with bent corners were of no interest to her. And this is why I personally stand against buying complete sets of collection books. If a child is allowed to pick books of his or her own interest, than they will naturally grow their love of books. And even pick up a book before they pick up a toy.

Second, you must pick books that are age appropriate for your child.

Pick books that are age appropriate and have an amusing story, so that your child may not feel that understanding books is hard. I remember constantly reading books to my first child, that was too hard for my second child to understand. And I still have embedded in my mind the sorry image of her asking odd questions (as she did not understand), and dozing off to sleep.

Third, do not obsess over the lesson point of the book.

Who would be happy reading a textbook? Many mothers expect the child to be able to learn what they are reading through the book, and keep asking questions about the contents of the book. But instead, just simply listening to your mom’s affectionate voice and listening to the amusing story, can create a feeling of happiness for your child.

Fourth, people have an instinct to follow what they see.

If there is someone around your child who reads books regularly, then your child will begin to read as well. The first reader was my first child, but luckily my second, who saw her older sister’s love of books, began to grow interest and grew up to like books.

There are so many fun things in this world… who would read books?!?

These days, especially overflowing videos and games, it's easy to take our kids’ attention. But what is strange is that those “fun” videos and games do not make our kids “happy”. You can not fill in the "intelligent satisfaction" that a person has instinctively. I believe that there are happy memories and satisfaction that can only be given by books. We want our children to grow up as adults who feel joy and emotion through books.