Sarah Michelle Gellar makes some very nice points about reading with your kids in this video from Yahoo MOM (Moments of Motherhood).I used to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer on a regular basis; the show was fantasy/paranormal, one of my favorite genres, and it was so darn well written. Which means that of course I had to check this clip out, and I was pleased to note that Sarah did a good job. In particular, her story of turning daughter Charlotte into an avid reader is inspiring as well as cute.
Not that you have to be an actress to care about getting children to read... So what's your story? How have you hooked your kids (or students) on books? Leave a note in the comments and I'll list some highlights below!
Comments:
E. Louise: For us, it's important not just to read TO our kids, but to let them see us reading. My husband was often read to, but he never saw the adults around him reading, so he still grew up not valuing reading (until he married me - HA!). I, on the other hand, grew up in a family that had "library nights" where we would all go, pick out a stack of books apiece, and come home and sit around the living room reading together, sharing popcorn and soda. It was our favorite night of the week, and since my sister and I saw our parents loving books as much as they wanted us to, it happened quite naturally for us. My husband and I read to our girls, and we let them see us reading, too, and at two and three-and-a-half, they are both already hooked on books!
Kim Aippersbach: I agree that modeling reading is important, and having lots of books in the house, and taking lots of trips to the library. (But that could just be me making a virtue of my own habits!)
Both my oldest kids transitioned from being read to to reading independently with a single book. I can't remember which one it was for my oldest, but for my daughter it was Harry Potter. Chapter ended on a cliffhanger, my husband refused to start the next chapter, so she begged to be allowed to take the book to bed with her. 'Oh, I suppose so, just this once,' we said, secretly giving each other high fives behind her back!
