A new chapter for your teenager?

According to Louise Troup, Head of English, there has never been a better time to get teenagers reading.

It may seem counter-intuitive in our screen-dominated world, but booksellers and publishers, I think, would agree. At the end of October, Bloomsbury Publishing announced its highest profits in 12 years. Lockdown is leading to more reading and more book sales amongst adults. We now need to ensure that we create a new generation of lockdown teen readers. The books are there – ready and waiting to be devoured by your children.

The reasons are simple. Books are the ultimate super food for our body and soul. Reading improves mental health and our ability to empathise, whilst nourishing the brain with knowledge and feeding the imagination.

It will give our teens an opportunity to understand themselves better by seeing the world through others’ eyes, but with none of the self-doubt and anxiety created by social media.

It will create for them a peaceful space where they can escape the reality of the virus and appreciate the difficulties others overcome, putting their own into better perspective. And it will help give our young people some of the linguistic skills – and the understanding of the human condition – that they will need to navigate this uncertain world. It will, perhaps most importantly, teach them to concentrate! But how do you actually get your teen to read?

Take away the Tech

Evidence shows that the more access a teenager has to devices and thereby the internet and social media, the less they will read. Common sense tells us that in order to concentrate on a book (and you do need to concentrate), you need to be in the right physical and mental space. Therefore, I have a simple message:

Take away the tech. All the tech. For an hour a day. At least.

Create an environment for your teenager where they are relaxed and comfortable and take away every single screen they own. They will hate you. They will tell you they hate you. But after the initial fuss, they will give in. I am lucky enough to be able to visit a family croft in the Highlands regularly, where there is no tech, no TV and plenty of weather. After sulking for a couple of hours, my teenager will, at first reluctantly, settle into a book. Inevitably, this leads to five or six being consumed over the holiday and a newfound love of novels. Often, we share books, and these become a topic of conversation on the wet Highland walks. You may not have access to my windy WiFi-free retreat, but you can create the same conditions if you can find the will power and determination to do it.

Talk about books

Do not be a book snob. Allow your teenager to read absolutely anything they like, at least to start with. Remember, it is important that young people do not see reading as an extension of school and learning. They need a break from ‘learning’. If you try to force them to read something that you deem worthy, they will see this as ‘work’.

Discovering what they like and finding the right books for them will, naturally, take time and effort from you, and them. A good place to start is browsing in a bookshop and asking for help. Booksellers are excellent

As the nights draw in, intersperse Strictly and Bake Off with some superfood for the brain and nurture yourself and your family with books...

at recommending appropriate and engaging books and I would start there. Another tactic is to use your own network of friends and fellow parents – reading may not be ‘cool’ yet – but other parents will have had the same problem. Pop a message on social media and ask for recommendations

Teach by example

For reading to become a pleasurable habit for a teenager, it clearly needs to be something that you do too. Perhaps model reading and enjoying snippets from the newspaper; create some family time around the Sunday papers or settle down yourself to read for half an hour after dinner or with a cup of tea in the afternoon. It will help your mental health too. If your teenager is ready for adult books, do not be afraid to share your books with them. Sharing the experience of reading the same book as your child is truly enriching. You could, even, encourage a teen lie-in with a book at the weekends by having one yourself.

As the nights draw in, intersperse Strictly and Bake Off with some superfood for the brain and nurture yourself and your family with books...