Thursday, February 11, 2010

Booking Through Thursday (2): Encouragement




BTT: Encouragement
btt buttonSuggested by Barbara H:
How can you encourage a non-reading child to read? What about a teen-ager? Would you require books to be read in the hopes that they would enjoy them once they got into them, or offer incentives, or just suggest interesting books? If you do offer incentives and suggestions and that doesn’t work, would you then require a certain amount of reading? At what point do you just accept that your child is a non-reader?
In the book Gifted Hands by brilliant surgeon Ben Carson, one of the things that turned his life around was his mother’s requirement that he and his brother read books and write book reports for her. That approach worked with him, but I have been afraid to try it. My children don’t need to “turn their lives around,” but they would gain so much from reading and I think they would enjoy it so much if they would just stop telling themselves, “I just don’t like to read.”
There are so many great and lovely books for all age people now-a-days, and, I would really love to share them with my close ones.  But, I can't force them to read. I once encouraged my 2-3 friends to read by asking and giving them books that intrigues them the most. But, it needs a lot of patience and concentration to start with.
I don't have kids.So in this case, I really do not know what I'll do with them.But, for little ones, I can always shut down all the other entertainments like TV, Internet, video-games for only an hour, so that they can just start and try reading a few pages.But if it doesn't work, then I think I'll just accept that this child is not a reader.Of course I'll  feel sad, but thats what it is ! You simply can't force them to read !



Another thing is that, there is no perfect age for a person to read..I myself started reading from the age of 21.But now, books and I are inseparable !

What about you ?  what do you think about this ?

9 Comments:

Blogger Jen at Introverted Reader said...

Shutting off all the distractions is a good idea!

February 11, 2010 at 12:57 AM  
Blogger Jo said...

Ah, we turn off all electrical stuff for an hour before bedtime here. I don't insist that they read, but they always do. They can do anything, it just has to be quiet and non-electrical!

February 11, 2010 at 3:56 AM  
Blogger Vicki said...

My teenage son isn't a reader. We have battled many an evening to get school reading books done when he was younger. Nowadays I still buy him books for Christmas and birthdays, but don't force them on him. I have found him reading in bed a couple of times recently! If reading isn't his thing right now, thats ok as he has other interests and talents, but in my experience, forcing it didn't work.

My younger daughter on the other hand is going to be just like her Mum, she loves to read! We are all different I suppose.

February 11, 2010 at 4:52 AM  
Blogger Alayne said...

I agree, you can't force them to read if it's not their thing. My husband isn't a big reader of fiction books like I am, but he loves reading news. Just the way the cookie crumbles I guess.

I posted a Valentines related question at The Crowded Leaf if you're interested in checking it out.

February 11, 2010 at 7:08 AM  
Blogger Jennifer said...

I agree with shutting down telly, computers, games, etc. My three teens adore reading, always have. I read to them when they were babies and we always read for fun. We rarely watch telly and do not have gaming systems.
My full BTT: http://www.rundpinne.com/2010/02/booking-through-thursday-encouraging.html

February 11, 2010 at 7:15 AM  
Blogger tweezle said...

You're right, you can't force them to read.

I had to deal with this with my oldest child.
Here's my response.

February 11, 2010 at 8:11 AM  
Blogger IceJewel said...

@Rhiana: Thats lovely.If I had a daughter, I would have given her all the books I read and would have enjoyed her reading them :)

February 11, 2010 at 9:29 AM  
Blogger IceJewel said...

@Jennifer G.,@tweezle,@Jennifer ,@Alayne,@Rhiana ,@Jo : It was lovely to know your answers :)

February 11, 2010 at 9:31 AM  
Blogger Brooke from The Bluestocking Guide said...

Turn off that tv and video games, computer. You'd be surprised.

Here is mine

February 11, 2010 at 10:01 AM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home