#4 of 15 Ways to Teach Your Child to Write Using Books - Read for Fun!

This means you!


If you only read aloud -- what we call "reading around" -- taking turns -- for educational reading alone, then reading will not be considered of value by your children. Writing isn't fun because reading isn't fun -- it's a chore; it's school. How about its being cuddle time in front of the fire or on the front porch on a sunny morning? We do it with our preschoolers; why not with our teens?

But, before reading can be fun with your kids, it has to be fun for you. Do your children see you spending time reading? Maybe it's your favorite gardening magazine, maybe it's Danielle Steel, but if you make reading a priority -- not because someone is making you -- they will wonder what the big deal is and try it out for themselves. My mother spent most of my childhood in the corner of the sofa knitting, playing solitaire and, above all, reading. She tells us that as toddlers, we would crawl up under her book to see what was so absorbing.

I have many friends who insist they are not readers, others who have hardly a book in the house, who have not been to the library since their 3rd grade field trip. People don't all have to be readers. But, if you want your children to be moderately eloquent writers, you have to be a reader. Read cookbooks, manga books, magazines, atlases, "as told to" autobiographies, even your own kids' stories. Then, when you've gotten a taste of the enjoyment of reading, read with your kids for fun. Let them pick the book and enjoy the time with them.