{"id":22478,"date":"2018-02-02T01:32:27","date_gmt":"2018-02-02T06:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mominthecity.com\/"},"modified":"2024-02-06T10:56:10","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T15:56:10","slug":"raise-boys-who-love-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mominthecity.com\/raise-boys-who-love-reading\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Raise Boys Who Love Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

Both of my sons love books almost as much as they like video games. Almost. \ud83d\ude42 That is why parents and teachers often ask me what Reggie and I are doing with them at home. In all honesty, the answer is \u201cnot much\u201d at this point. For the most part, we stopped reading to our kids about five years ago. We did<\/strong><\/span> read to them in their early years though so I\u2019m primarily sharing these 5 foundational tips on how to raise boys who love reading for those of you with younger sons.<\/p>\n

1. We read a lot. <\/strong>
\nI read a lot. I have loved books since I was a little girl, so I\u2019m constantly reading books and magazines in addition to online material. My husband Reggie mainly reads textbooks (he has been a student and\/or teacher as long as the kids can remember), the Bible<\/em> and Sports Illustrated<\/em>. When they are little, kids tend to follow their parents\u2019 example.<\/p>\n

Update: I actually read less and my husband reads more. I\u2019m going through a podcast\/audiobook phase. Meanhwile, my husband has found the types of books that keep his interest \u2013 biographies and autobiographies of great men.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

2. We read a lot to our sons before they learned to read. <\/strong>
\nAlmost every night, Reggie or I would read to the boys before they went to bed. They memorized their favorites to \u201cfake read\u201d before they even learned the different sounds that letters made. We would dramatize their little books as we read. We all still have fond memories of Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb<\/a>. We used to \u201cdrum\u201d to it as part of the reading. Those moments created such great memories. We parents really are our kids first teachers.<\/p>\n

3. We read with them. <\/strong>
\nOnce the boys started learning the different sounds that letters made, we would co-read stories. They would read the small words and we would read the bigger\/more challenging ones.<\/p>\n

4. We let them read to us. <\/strong>
\nThe boys would grab a book and ask if they could read it to us. (The answer was almost always, \u201cyes\u201d!)<\/p>\n

Update: I found this video of my oldest son Michael reading a book to me when he was five. <\/em>Oh my goodness\u2026where did the time go?!<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>

<\/center>\u00a0\n

5. We let them read what THEY want to read (beyond what is required for school). <\/strong>
\nIn order to do this, we expose our sons to a variety of reading materials. Trips to the comic book store, libraries, and local bookstores are still common occurrences. I remember being a bit embarrassed when Michael chose to read a comic book for \u201cRead Aloud Day\u201d in Kindergarten, but I let him stick with his choice. By first grade, he was reading Harry Potter. (I would ask, \u201cDo you understand what you are reading\u2026and he did!)<\/p>\n

Sean, on the other hand, was initially more of a reluctant reader. \u201cI\u2019m a writer, not a reader,\u201d he would declare. \u201cThe best writers tend to be readers,\u201c I would respond. He didn\u2019t buy that. Oh, well. Beyond what he needed to read for school, I didn\u2019t push the issue. He started really enjoying books in the first grade though. The turning point for him was when his older brother Michael finally \u201callowed\u201d him to read his Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series. Harry Potter\u00a0was next. You just never know what will spark a boy\u2019s love of reading!<\/p>\n

In any event, I hope these five tips help your sons to love reading books and other written material. I would add letting them make up their own stories, write them down and illustrate them can be fun for them too. Also, ask them what they like\/don\u2019t like about the stories that they actually do read. That will help you to know what types of related books to expose them to in the future.<\/p>\n

Most of all, I would say to encourage reading but don\u2019t stress your kids out about it<\/strong><\/u>. Beyond what is required academically, pushing reading really is an unnecessary battle\/steals the joys of the written word. Every boy is not going to love to read, but I think that following these tips will definitely help tilt the probability in your favor.<\/p>\n

{Updated\/Originally from December 2013}<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Both of my sons love books almost as much as they like video games. Almost. \ud83d\ude42 That is why parents and teachers often ask me what Reggie and I are doing with them at home. In all honesty, the answer … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Raise Boys Who Love Reading - Mom in the City<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How to Raise Boys Who Love Reading\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mominthecity.com\/raise-boys-who-love-reading\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Raise Boys Who Love Reading\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How to Raise Boys Who Love Reading\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mominthecity.com\/raise-boys-who-love-reading\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mom in the City\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-02-02T06:32:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-06T15:56:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mominthecity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/how-to-raise-boys-who-read1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"590\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kimberly\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mominthecity\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@mominthecity\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kimberly\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mominthecity.com\/raise-boys-who-love-reading\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mominthecity.com\/raise-boys-who-love-reading\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kimberly\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mominthecity.com\/#\/schema\/person\/721489be0f7f92dfcc81529d34a9e6bc\"},\"headline\":\"How to Raise Boys Who Love Reading\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-02T06:32:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-06T15:56:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mominthecity.com\/raise-boys-who-love-reading\/\"},\"wordCount\":724,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mominthecity.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mominthecity.com\/raise-boys-who-love-reading\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mominthecity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/how-to-raise-boys-who-read1.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mominthecity.com\/raise-boys-who-love-reading\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mominthecity.com\/raise-boys-who-love-reading\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mominthecity.com\/raise-boys-who-love-reading\/\",\"name\":\"How to Raise Boys Who Love Reading - 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