School of Thought

By Etti Siegel

Q: Dear Etti, The teacher convinced me. Reading is important. Okay. I personally am not a reader, but I hear the benefits. They help children grow, learn so much more about life, explore concepts and places and situations they otherwise would not have been exposed to. But, as I said, I am not a reader. So how do I get my children to become readers? -Not a Reader, but Willing to Become One

A: Dear Not a Reader, You read my column, so you must be at least an occasional reader! Which is good, because modeling a love for reading is an important step.

Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Ed.D. is the author of Taking Back Childhood. She writes that part of enjoying reading is fluency and confidence but says the teaching part should be left to the teacher. “Parents shouldn’t be the ones reinforcing lessons or obsessing about fundamentals,” Dr. Carlsson-Paige writes. “They should simply be reading with their kids—that’s it.” So reading should be fun, and light, and make you laugh and gasp in delight.

“If we treat books like they’re magical, kids will grow up believing that too,” says Shanna Schwartz, who is the lead senior staff developer at Columbia University Teachers College Reading and Writing Project in New York City.

So make reading fun!

Read interesting and fun books to your child/children. I used to read Mrs. Piggle Wiggle and Pippi Longstockings to my kids, and my husband read The Gordian Knot to them when they were older, voices and all.

The best time to read to them is at night before bed, when the excitement of the day is waning. The dishes can wait. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents start reading out loud to their children from the time they are born and continue through kindergarten. I believe children should be read to as long as they are interested! Dr. Barry Zuckerman is a professor of Pediatrics at Boston University and says that reading with your kids is “one of the most pleasurable activities that you do with your child – there’s physical closeness, but it’s probably the most unhurried time that children have with their parent, and it is focused on them.” So read a little every night, and watch bedtime become the favorite time of day! (Obviously some nights won’t work out, but try to minimize those occurrences so your children feel prioritized.)

You can build a library; you can add one new book every week. Too expensive? Make going to the library part of your weekly routine. Many communities have a Jewish library. Find out where it is and what their hours are. Many neighbors have books. See if anyone would allow you to borrow a few books at a time. (It’s also a great chance to teach responsibility; show children how one cares for another person’s property and be ready to replace a book that the toddler tears up.)

Don’t forget to stop and answer questions and discuss what is on a page if there is a picture. Let your child choose the pace of how much you read, within reason. Remember that toddlers might want the same book over and over. It is comforting for them, even if it is boring for you. Toddlers also have a short attention span. Older children might want you to read a long chapter all at once, something that is not realistic and is unnecessary. Find good places to stop and leave them wondering what might happen next.

Let your children draw connections to their own lives. The self-to-text connection is a way to really connect with the book and with you as you recall events and create new memories.

Audio books are fabulous as well. Children love listening to a story being read as they follow along, and some books now come with a USB or CD just for that purpose. The library has audio books for the sight-impaired, and I believe anyone can borrow them.

Recording makes reading extra fun, too. Have your child create an audio book! The added incentive is having that audio book years later for the child to marvel at how cute he was when he was younger.

Play story building games Reading should be in the car, or when sitting in the doctor’s office. Say a line, fun, and light, and and have your child say the next. These games hone imagmake you laugh ination and might inspire your child to be a writer, not just a and gasp in delight. reader. Don’t forget to make reading Hebrew enjoyable as well! Children who are comfortable reading Hebrew do better in school, have more self confidence (teachers call on students to read pesukim and read from stories all the time, so being able to read with confidence is confidence-building!), and are more likely to be able to pick up a sefer and look something up. Some families read from Tehilim each night, and celebrate as they complete a Yom, with a Siyum after completing the Sefer. A school in Detroit has the first and second grade children read Chumash every night, with no translation, just to build fluency. They celebrate the “Melech” or “Malkah Bereishis,” Shemos… and present the ones who finish the whole Chamisha Chumshai Torah with a gift. Children are surrounded by text and will read cereal boxes and store signs and become fluent from exposure. Hebrew, on the other hand, is not ubiquitous, and so fluency is harder to reach. Make sure someone is reviewing pesukim every night (it is HW, after all) and check fluency. Contact your child’s Hebrew teacher if you are concerned and get your child the Hebrew reading help when they are young and willing, before they are embarrassed and self-labeling. Welcome to a world where reading is magical and creates bonding time. Have fun! -Etti