How can I get my child interested in reading?

Making him read 20 mins everyday , he may start to dread it and see it as a punishment which will put him off even more . Make it pleasant comics , his choice of books , games .my son was a late reader but loved books pictures feel of them, bieng read them . He eventually caught up in his own time .

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Growing up, I hated the idea of reading/writing and was perfectly content to never do those things. Eventually my dad started writing, and at breakfast, would read me his work. Then, I would give pointers about what I wanted to hear more of and what needed improvement. Over time, I decided I could write a story and jumped right into reading/writing.

Guinness book of records is a good one to keep interest for a young lad. Try find books that hold his interest x

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Video games and movies with subtitles. Its much easier to gain reading comprehension with subjects that you’re immersed in. I remember playing Pokémon at a young age and hitting a point where I needed to obtain a bike voucher. I didn’t know what a voucher was so I looked it up. Then I was able to finish that part of the game. Reading comprehension and problem solving.

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My grandson hated reading, his teacher suggested “diary of a wimpy kid” now we have the whole set. Find something he is interested in

Just need to find what he’s into there’s usually a book on it.

What is he interested in…maybe start by getting books on how to do some of those things…if he likes dinosaurs get books on dinosaurs…where they lived…what they ate…that kind of thing

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Try taking him to the book store and letting him pick himself out any book he wants. And either you could reward him for reading. Or say before any electronics are turned on you need to read, or before we go to the pool you need to read your 20 minutes. But making it fun it the best way. Letting him have part in picking out what he’s reading (to an) extent obviously sometimes can make them be more interested in it

Try joining your local library and go and spend a while seeing what books he likes the look of. If you struggle to get him reading get hom to read the back of the books to find 1 which he likes. Alot of library’s do quests over the holidays to help get kids reading more

Maybe play a game with him. Tell him you would like to take terms in reading to each other. What’s his favorite book or comic book.

My reluctant reader started with the captain underpants/dog man books because he found the layout easier to read and it didn’t matter if he couldn’t read all of the words. He lives minecraft and there’s so many official and unofficial minecraft novels that he devours them now. We used to really have to fight to get him to read. I think it was a confidence thing. The others that really helped were the code reading books and we would just read a couple of pages together alternating sentences and then talk about where we were in the story.

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Controversial…but a tablet, if he wants to watch videos or music he has to be able to read what he wants to look up. My children have all had them and now my six year old can read and type in children’s things and it’s made a massive difference. Have you thought of him being more hands on and not the sit down bookworm possibly? :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: mine still also like books x

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I can read but not for to long cause after a while I would forget what I read previously and just become confused, or I would get a headache so it could be a number of reasons, thank goodness we have YouTube where any book can be read to you…

Buy him some comics it might be worth it to get him interested in reading.

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What about comic books??? Xxxx

It was on my son’s chore list. So before he could play video games, all his chores, including 20 minutes of reading had to be done

Go to the library maybe

I found with mine I had to find things they were interested in and move from there my oldest isn’t an avid reader but scores well on reading age my middle one I had to find certain genres that suit him he loves football so we started looking for age appropriate fiction focusing heavily on sport and also the news paper was the teachers suggestion with my youngest I struggled for ages to get her to read but she fell in love with Roald Dahl when the teacher read the enormous crocodile in school so I bought every roald Dahl book I could find and it has worked wonders she went from 2 years behind her reading age to bang on where she should be so I would suggest working towards finding what he likes and going from there maybe ask him to write you a story to get a better idea of what he likes I have found that they focus on what ignites their imagination when telling a story so it may give you a good indication of where to start looking for books that will interest him also make sure to engage him in talking about what he is reading

When all else fails…

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What about a reading app? Like homer or something

Do the library’s still do the summer reading challenges? That may work, both myself and my sister did them when we were younger and thoroughly enjoyed it!!

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“I want to make him read”… that’s your first problem right there. Forcing him. Find what he’s interested in, and get him into that. If he likes cars/trucks/motorbikes, get catalogs and brochures and information packets about them and get him reading them. Does he like to build things? Get him reading the instructions. Animals/nature- create a scavenger hunt to find different critters and creations in the back yard. Cooking? Read the recipe AND do the measurements - English & maths in one! Find his interests, find his strengths and work with them. But you will get nowhere by “making” him do it, he’ll only rebel more, and hate it more.

You’re making a big deal out of it and he can feel your fear! Realise that reading isn’t about books or fiction. You haven’t said what interests he does have buy books on that! Get books of facts, manuals etc that he will want to read. Realize that looking up facts or interests on the internet is still reading. The chance to research something that interests them can often result in them reading and not realising!

Also think about literary non-fiction to start getting him reading more traditionally. A travel book, or an autobiography of someone they admire (Roald Dahl’s are hilarious). A magazine or graphic novel is also still reading.

For fiction, try Alex Rider series, David Walliams, Roald Dahl, How to Train Your Dragon series, The Mr Gum series, Percy Jackson, Cotterell Boyce. Don’t be upset if he wants to read easier books. You can also greatly improve reading scores by reading with them too and explaining tricky words. He might love the opportunity to spend some time with a parent reading to him before bed. Also consider Star Wars series designed to improve reading in poor readers if he likes Star Wars. I think they’re by DK.

Have you also tried colour filters?

Doesn’t have to be books :slight_smile: Traffic signs, recipes, appliance instructions, my 7yr old likes skipping through the Spotify list and reading songs

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Take him shopping and let him choose books for himself. He may want to read if what he reads is his choice

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comic books, Japanese mangas

My son didnot like to read either, comic books were how we started.

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Ok so first you gotta find something he likes and then they style of writing that appeals to him but also be super involved and be consistent with it. For us my oldest likes magma/comic/anime style books she will plow through those like nothing but other stuff is a battle so instead I just find stuff she likes it’s not about me or what I want her to read. I just want her to read I also try to get her read her video games find ones with good stories :slightly_smiling_face: don’t lose hope just change strategy

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My son is 9 and has a hard time reading we started out with the Dick and Jane books and then we moved to the kids National Geographic books that are easy and he really loves them

See if your local library is open & doing a summer reading program. Most of the time, they offer prizes for reading so many books or so many minutes a day. Let him pick out the books.

Comic books! My son was barely reading in the 7th grade, got a young male teacher who was into comics. That fixed the problem.

Are you helping him find/encouraging books of interest. I also gave my kiddo options, reading alone, reading to someone else (siblings, parents aunts/uncles, grandparents, etc) and shared reading where you (or some other person) reads with them and you read one paragraph/page sentence (and help with the words they grt frustrated with)…this helped significantly with my kiddo! Good luck! PS I forced my daughter to read min of 30 min a day last year when she was home from.school for covid…yes at first she didn’t like it but she jumped 5 reading levels from April 20 to Sept 20! And now I can’t get her to put the books down!

Turn on closed captions and turn off the volume on the TV. But how to books for his favorite video games.

Have you tried the Dog Man books? My 9 yr old son didn’t want to read either but it was part of their homework this year to read 20 minutes from a chapter book. And I looked and Dog Man is considered a chapter book even though it’s set up like a comic book. Another good series is the Captain Underpants books. We went from not wanting to read to finishing a book in a couple of days.

First of all, bribe him.
And DEFINITELY let him pick the book.
But again, bribe him… video game time, a layer bed time. Pizza night. Whatever. Just get him started and see if it’s something he will even enjoy.

Ask him what his favorite things are then find books about those. Read with him.

Reward system. He may never like reading but he HAS to do it. Buy books with subjects he likes or the easy readers that are leveled. Make him read for 20 mins before any other activity, such as tv or video games. Give him a sticker or reward coin so that he can buy a “prize” from you. Could be a pizza party. Could be a $10 gift card to use on a video game. Use what he loves to do to do what he needs to do. Just get him reading. It’s going to be a fight & hassle but now is the time to be “mean mommy” and make him read. He will benefit later & maybe be thankful.

Where the sidewalk ends by shel Silverstine. Then he might want to read the light in the attic ect. Try Ronald Dahl books like Danny, or Charlie and the chocolate factory. My 4th grade teacher read those books to us. I loved them so much, I read them to my girls and they are reading them to my grandchildren!! Also maybe around 12 look into a child called IT. It is a very sad story about an abused boy, but it helps to teach about empathy.

This book by National Geographic Kids is a favorite at my house. My son is almost 8 and this format keeps him engaged more than long paragraphs in chapter books. Plus the facts are pretty cool. My daughter is 12 and she loves this book too.