How can I get my child interested in reading?

I’m looking for suggestions on how to get a nine-year-old boy interested in reading. He hates reading no matter what I try to do or the teachers, and his reading score is really being affected by it. This summer, I want to make him read 20 min a day, but I know it will be a fight. Is there something I’m missing that could help him

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Match screen time with reading…you read 30 mins you play games for 30 mins. You read for an hour you watch TV/play games for an hour.

My kids have really hated reading this year. For the summer the kids, as well as myself will be taking 30 minutes a day to read. We will do it together with snacks and blankets and then we’ll get to discuss what we read. Hopefully that encourages them.

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I engaged my child in reading since a baby he is 7 now and what really helped over the years is him reading to me or I do the reading… then I have him read by himself and ask simple questions about it… have him pick the books … theres a lot of cool audio books that got my child’s interest.

Find a movie he likes that has a book title and see if that helps that helped me but I was in like 7th grade

Incorport what he like toake it a game

DOG MAN BOOKS! I was in the same boat. He LOVES dog man books now. Im slowly getting him hooked on adventure stories. I am reading more at night as well. Im so bad, i was letting them fall asleep to movies at night and i should have been reading to them. So thats my summer goal!!

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I don’t know if it will help but my daughter isn’t a big reader either. I have found if I take her to the library and pick out her own books, she is much more willing to read. Also, my step-mom and dad have told her, for every book she reads this summer, they will each give her 50 cents per book. After she earns $44, they will take her to Adventureland(amusement park). We are totally not above bribery :rofl:

Have you tried short stories?

What is he into? My son like Roblox and Minecraft. He’s found books on them

Graphic novels are a great way to get kids interested in reading. Also find books that have his interest in them. If he’s into Pokemon or Minecraft find books that are about that ect. Read with him, you read a page he reads a page. Just keep it up and hopefully he’ll pick up some good reading habits. Good luck momma.

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My daughter was the same way… I suggest asking him to write stories. Making sure they are creative and edited properly (spelling, punctuation, etc).

Ask him to read something to you out loud off the internet that he may be interested in?, eg. Sports reports, his favourite actor/animation character/inventions, etc. etc

Maybe offer him some $:yen:. For example offer if he reads a book​:books: that is 120 pages $ :yen:and have him give you an oral report about the book :books: just so you know he read the book :books: that might encourage him to read. Maybe the bigger the book :books: up the amount of money :yen: he gets

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I just saw a post about a guy who paid his child $1 for every book he read, maybe that might help.
Or another idea is to take your child to the book store and let them choose what kind of books they like. This way it is something that they like and are interested in.

My 8 yr old wasn’t into reading until I had him read to his little sister. Then he started reading to the dogs and cats. His reading grade went from a B- to an A+ in one grading period

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My 8 yr old has been the same way and I’m a teacher lol. In the past couple of weeks he discovered he loves Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Dogman. They kind of have a comic format. He has been reading like crazy all of a sudden and he loves his video game too but we do an hour on then hour off rule and in those off hours he has discovered he likes to read. It’s all about finding a book they like that gets them hooked.

My 11 year old hates reading as well. He says the only thing be needs to be able to read is his name on a check. Boy GOODBYE😂

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One kids are made readers in the laps of parents so sit and read together at least 30 min a day. Two kids emulate what they see so read more yourself. In our house we literally have book night where we make snacks and turn on the fake fireplace on the TV and read our own books. My oldest reads chapter books on a 3rd grade level fluently so he reads a book and writes a summary then gets a dollar. Works his reading, comprehension, speech,and writing skills. He seriously believes he is getting such a great deal he will read a book a day if I let him. My youngest is only 4 and he will make anyone read him 10 books a day but we are learning to read by ourself this summer so that’s his goal. Whenever he learns a new sight word he gets a mm and then a dollar a book too. Lots of trips to the library!

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My son loves The Bad Guys books. There’s 13. Easy to read, fun characters. :+1:

The best thing to do to get kids to read is to let them see you reading! Everyone I know that reads has kids that love to read, including me. Everyone I know that doesn’t read, are always asking questions just like this.

Really depends on why he isn’t reading. I had a rule with my nephew 20 minutes of reading then 20 minutes of whatever he wanted…whether it be playing outside, playing a game, gaming system etc. He also picked out what books he wanted from the library. Check into your local library and see if they have story time activities for his age group

Read something he’s interested in, weather it’s a game manual for games, or if he plays video games maybe do 10 minutes of reading for 10 minutes on the gaming device. Making him want to read for a reward.

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What is he in to if he likes a film find the book x

Read along books maybe? Like the leap pen, takes the word from the page says it out loud and have him follow?

My brother who hates reading got really into mangas. I’ve heard some parents offer money for their child to read chapter books.

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Take him to a book store and let him pick out books and stories he’d be interested in reading

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I let my kids pick books in their age bracket that interests them or sounds interesting…we do if u get 5 books we do a special activity we keep a book board

Our library has a summer reading program
Maybe look at your local library or come up with a similar system

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First make sure he doesn’t have any issues making reading difficult for him–like learning difficulties. If that is not an issue than take away all electronics/TV for a few weeks until reading is the only thing to do if he is bored!

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Get him age appropriate books on something he is interested in.

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try comic books! both of my kids got into reading those, together and separately, before they got into reading regular books. then taking them to the library and letting them choose their own books helped because they had a choice in what they were reading

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My daughter is 8 and she hated it to. Highly reccomend Dog man and Captain underpants. My daughter is obsessed and has come to love both series. You just have to find something he will enjoy

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Maybe keep a reading log and for each day that he meets his 20 minute reading goal, he gets a sticker. At the end of the week he gets to choose a prize (can be a movie night at home with snacks, a game night, a small toy, a book of his choice, or any fun prizes you can think of that he would like).

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First, I would ask him why he doesn’t like reading. He may have an underlying issue. If he does not, Take him to the book store and let him pick out the books he wants and then sit with him and let him read to you. Get rid of any other distractions, which may be difficult if you have other children, but maybe before bed, go into his room with him, close the door and have him read to you. At the end of each week, say Saturday evening, skip the reading and watch a movie instead as a reward.

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Read to him. He will learn books are interesting and you will find him reading. Keep books around him.

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My son sat in my lap for me to read to him every night from the time he was a baby until he was almost 5. He saw me reading all the time. He hated to read. He’s 8 now and loves the Dog Man and Captain Underpants books. He reads them repeatedly and has even started making his own comic type books. He wants to be an author or a teacher when he grows up.
Take him to a bookstore or library and have him pick out what interests him

We’ve always read a book each day, starting when they are babies, and it’s helped a lot. Visit the library and let him pick out books that interest him. Try reading together. You can read one page of his book to him, and he can read the following page to you. We also have a reading nook, with bean bag chairs etc for our kids. There are also book clubs he might enjoy.

What does he like? What are his interests? Passions? Pursuits? The public library is amazing take him and say “pick any books you want.” He WILL pick books about stuff he likes and most likely read them :wink:

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Offer 1$ for each book he reads properly then at the end of the week or day he can get something from the dollar store.

I got my sons graphic novels. They love reading those! Captain underpants is a big hit here!

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Let him pick out his books. Take him to any book section or book store. The more involved he is, the more he’s going to want to do it.

Try graphic novels, comics or even audio books. Maybe he doesn’t like reading a lot of text. I Survived series or the Dogman series are very popular for kids his age.

What does he like to do? Video games? Reward him with that🤷🏻‍♀️ Take him to a book store let him look around and pick things he may find a little more interesting to read. My son started enjoying the books like dogman that have cartoons in them.

Comics got my boy to read.
He got into a few books too like Captain Underpants
Dogman
The Bad Guys series
and our personal favorite, The Day My Butt Went Psycho

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Check his vision. It happened to my sister when she did not like to read. Glasses made the difference.

This was right under this post lol. But try different types! Mine love comic, more pictures lol

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I saw a post before that’s said they pay their kid$1 a book…but must be at least 150 pages!! Lol

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Joke books, get one each and sit at opposite ends of the couch telling jokes to each other for ten mins. Find something he is into like Minecraft or captain underpants and read a chapter each a night. Look into books like famous five and secret 7 to see if he likes the mystery/kids clubs type. These are things I’ve done for my 9yr old after doing a reading program through the school :blush:

Find out what his interests are. Don’t limit reading to books.

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Dedicate that 20 minutes either reading to him…alternating turns reading. Let him choose the book…no matter what book…just read it.

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Have you tried ready to him? Get him interested in the story then maybe he will take it from there.

Try difference genres. For example, if likes video games have him read online game reviews etc. Be creative. Reading practice can be anything not just novels.

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Let him chose the books. People won’t like this but when my stepson didn’t Listen we would have him read books in his room. His reading has improved so much

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Buy the books he likes

Read with him. Or read to him.

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Maybe he is into building things, bugs, plants and so on, find some books that will fit his interest

Let him choose the book. Even a comic book. Maybe a magazine on a topic he likes.

My son is 8, we will sit down & read books together. Like I’ll read a page & he’ll read a page. It helps cause he isn’t reading alone & reading the whole book by himself.

Comic books. My 7 year old devours them. Does he play video games? If so find comics about the games he likes (just check for age appropriateness cause some of the comics are not for children). Its really just about finding what gets him excited enough to take the time to read and learn about it.

Get him a Kindle and let him pick his own books.

My son was reading on a second grade level in 7th grade! We were always told to find books he was interested in. We found the Percy Jackson books and it made a huge difference. I also read with him b/c his reading was so bad he couldn’t remember what he read by the time he got to the bottom of the page. So he read 1 page and I’d read several. That would help him understand the story and also learn the cadence to read. By the end of 8th grade with a lot of help and a lot of work on his part he was on grade level. Good luck!

Does he have trouble reading? Is it hard. Some kids don’t like to read because it’s hard. Like my son. Or he does not understand. Maybe a comprehensive thing. Or it my not be any of those things. Especially if is teachers has not said anything. I don’t think I would reward him. I love to read. You either like it or you don’t. And he just does not. I probably would not force another. Maybe 10 mts. Never know, if you starts of small he may read longer eventually.

Have you checked to see if he sees the letters the right way some times when I read a letter trays to jump over another and I have to stop and start all over .

Go to the library and show him all the different genres. And let him read a little of the book before leaving to be sure he found “the one”.

Create a separate reading nook for him. It may be hard to read if he doesn’t have a proper place just for that. His room may be too distracting.

Find a movie he likes and have him read the book version. That way he knows he’ll be interested.

Use incentives for reading! $5 for each chapter book read, or $0.50 for each chapter read.

Read with him. He may be more apt to try if he sees you reading as well.

Read together. You read a page, and have him read the next one.

Best of luck! If can be hard to get kids interested at first, but once they find themselves reading of different worlds and adventures, hopefully it will click that they actually reading and suck them in! :blush:

This is long…First get his vision checked. But also get his VISUAL PROCESSING checked as well. My son has 20/20 vision but very poor visual processing skills. His brain could not process, sort and file the information his eyes were taking in. There are therapies available to help improve visual processing. This is especially important for any student that has ADD/ADHD or receives occupational therapy services.

Do not make him read in a certain level or grade range; allow him to read what he chooses. If he wants to read baby books or the exact same book over and over all summer, let him.

Read aloud with him every day, you read some, he reads some and when he struggles with a word don’t make him “sound it out” :woman_facepalming:t3: if he knew what the sounds were and how to put them together he’d get it right the first time. Just tell him the word and move on; the goal is to enjoy reading not battle through it. The more exposure to words the better he will become; you can’t achieve that exposure if you’re constantly fighting him to sound out the words.

Try graphic novels (DogMan, Bone, Fly Guy), joke books, Pick your own adventure books (he gets to make choices about how the story will go), and nonfiction.

If all that fails and he still will not read, get some WORDLESS PICTURE BOOKS and have him tell the stories. The Bored Book is one of my favorites and tells such a great story without any words. There are lots of amazing, rich wordless books that will help build comprehension skills like character, plot, cause and effect, and inferencing.

To anyone that has read all of this, I hope it helps!

Read it with him say 1 page you and one him. Then get him books he likes or may be interested in reading.

Some Mama’s may disagree with this, but I’ve found a few channels on YouTube that are fabulous storytime channels. We watch a bedtime story together, then I just turn the volume off and let my son read to me. Lindsey Out Loud has the funniest, entertaining books for kids your son’s age. Kids Time Storytime is wonderful, and Awnies House are our favorites. I’ve always read actual books to my kids, and I enjoy the interaction during reading time. I have found ways to still interact with my son while watching these books on YouTube, and he enjoys it.

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After we watched the Hunger Games movies my son (10) who has never been interested in reading (although me and my daughter are very much) wanted to read the books so he could see what he missed in them… maybe something like that would help :grin:

I never liked reading still don’t only did what I absolutely had to for school

Take turn reading paragraphs. My son was really behind until the pandemic and I was able to be on top of him with school. This seemed to build his confidence and now he’s back in in class learning and has made wonderful progress in his reading we were sure if he was going to be retained but he did it and is now going onto 4th grade :purple_heart:

Find out what motivates him, like for every 25/50 pages he reads he gets his favorite candy or $$ or something he doesn’t normally get. Get him books about things he’s interested in

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As a parent, my girls have seen me take time to read everyday. They both would get a book and sit with me and we would read together. Yes, when they were younger sometimes I wouldn’t read a page Bc I was helping them with words. After reading we would discuss what we read. Now since they are both in high school, we still continue to read. Luckily for me, they both love my favorite author as well, so we switch the books off. Once the book is read, we watch the movie. So maybe find books that also has the movie, read the book together and then watch the movie. Compare the differences.

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Don’t fight it. They will learn at their pace. Mine had “difficulties” and he’s almost 18 now doing just fine. Sitting still to read and try to focus is not for every child. Maybe interactive games help, captions on the TV if that’s where they spend time. Let him pick out stuff interesting to him, maybe it’s comic type reading with lots of pictures. Not everyone learns the same!! Good luck.

Look up We Both Read books. Adult page followed by the child’s page. He is probably a level 2. Might be less intimidating if he knows he doesn’t have to read the whole thing. Both fiction and nonfiction available.

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Find a subject he is interested in. If he’s not interested in the book then he won’t enjoy it

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What movies or tv shows does he like to watch? Chose books that are easy readers of those movies or characters. Then branch out and up from there.

Read to him, get him books that he’s interested in, let him choose, give him incentives

If you found something he’s interested in to read …any sports he can read about legends etc …if he likes space then space books …etc

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It can be hard with boys. Find books about things he is interested in.

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Get books on whatever he’s interested in. I gave a g-grandson with autism. He will read anything concerning dinosaurs, wolves, etc. No matter the subject reading is reading!

Start off with finding something that he likes to read let him pick out the books that way it would get him going and better his reading skills

My grandson was reading at 2, because I’m hearing impaired and always have the closed captions on the TV. He started reading without knowing that’s what he was doing and was watching his favorite shows. It’s not ideal but like I said my grandson learned to read that way easily and he’s still excellent at it. Maybe some of the Nick kids educational shows would interest him?

A relative of mine hated reading, tested and had dyslexia. Had reading therapy and liked to read captain underpants books.

If he likes audio books or graphic novels try those out, too. Do have him checked by a doctor for dyslexia and/or his eyes.

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Magic tree house for that age. They love them and want to continue reading. I would read a few pages then they read a few pages and so on and so on.

Find alternatives to books. have him read your grocery list . Comic book type books. If he has a hobby, find how to books for his hobby or successful authors who write about his hobby. Read the newspaper. Have him write letters to a grandparent or a pen pal and he can read the letters they send back. Read the sports page and stats if that is his thing. Help cook dinner read a recipe( math , even fractions. and reading ). Good luck. Required reading thru the school made my oldest hate to read. Make it fun but it is good that you care enough to have him read daily. Don’t give up.

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Reading something like The Dark is Rising, The Alvin Maker series, Lord of the Rings have been big hits with my kids. Hearing a book read aloud is a fantastic way to introduce books and expand interest.

You should have been reading to him all his life…good luck getting started now

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Mine is the same way… Gonna have to watch this for ideas.

Find certain things he likes like superheroes or something like that for books

My boys love Captain underpants

Has his eyesight been tested?

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Get books on things he likes…like games, baseball, sports

Maybe He can earn his screentime through reading, no reading no tv or stuff. Every page could be 2 mins time or something

Find what he likes. Horror, comics , etc. We all loved goosebumps and scary stories so start w that.

Dissaplin might work

Try Enid Blyton, famous 5 books, they capture the imagination of children , they did us ! That’s for sure !!

My youngest hated reading had no confidence. By mistake I put subtitles on when she was watching her favourite tv program and she liked it so carried on, her confidence then grew and now she loves reading. Might be worth a try. Good luck :crossed_fingers:

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As a young boy my mother saw that I had boys publications, ie