How Can I Make My Son to Read More?

I hate the Captain Underpants series, but I am a librarian and when my son told me reading is boring, it actually pained me. This was in January and he has now read all 8 Captain Underpants, plus the Super Diaper Baby book. He loves reading now and is working on Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Ugh!

Does he have any younger siblings? My 6 year old loves to read to his little brothers and sister. I tell him he's the teacher and they're his class and he reads to them each night

Read to him. Every night. Make it a routine. You only have to do 20 minutes. Go to the library and have him pick out the books, and read those. After 20 minutes when you're done reading, he might continue reading to himself if he's interested in the story.

Don't try to make him read. Read to him every chance you get. A bedtime routine that includes reading usually works well. Or you can have a routine around dinner or anytime convenient for you.

Ask him to read to you every once in awhile. You can read one page and he reads the next if he's willing but don't force him to do this. Anytime we force kids to do something they frequently end up hating it.

Be a model of a reader for him. Let him see you reading. Talk about what you're reading with him. Show him how reading is fun for you and how it can be fun for him. Perhaps ask him a question about something in which he's interested and give him a book in which to look it up. Go with him to the library and help him find books that interest him. Enroll him in the library's summer reading program. I loved that as a kid. Help him make a poster on which he can put a sticker every time he reads a book.

I wouldn't worry too much about his lack of interest in reading if he's doing well in school. Kids catch on to reading at different ages. Seems like I've heard that most begin to show more interest around 9 or 10. My granddaughter is 9 and in the fourth grade. This is the first time she's been interested in reading for herself. I began reading to her as a baby and she's always liked being read to. So start by being excited to read to him and don't push him to read at first. Relax and enjoy the time spent together.

Read with him.
Get him a magazine subscription.
Let him get his own library card and pick out what he wants.
Check out some books on CD for him to listen to.
Check out Between the Lions and Super Why DVDs to watch.
Read a book together and then watch the movie and compare them.
Our school has a book club for kids; maybe check with yours to see if they do too?

Some fun websites for him to play on:
Starfall.com
funbrain.com
and many others I'm sure.

Check out storytimes and other programs at your library.
My son loved the Magic Tree House, Spiderwick, Stink, Captain Underpants and Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. He has read every book in all of them and will still re-read some of those books.

I also make sure my kids have a book in their backpack or their desk, so they know they have something they are interested in to read during "down time" at school.

Keep encouraging it and keep reading with him, he is sure to love that!

Get him books that he likes.
Take him to the bookstore or library... let him choose 1 or 2 books.
Keep in mind.. that even comic books... helps improve reading and the enjoyment of reading. I read TONS of comic books when I was a kid... and it really gets you into having "fun" reading. Comic books, for some kids...are a very creative and fun outside the box sort of reading. I also loved reading haiku... and poems. My daughter loves Shel Silverstein. Maybe your son might like some creative type of reading too? Or the typical boy stuff/books. "Reading" does not always have to be serious and boring and monotonous. It is an adventure and an escape to faraway places and imaginations.
That is what I do with my girl... and she is now a bookworm... and totally loves reading.

Instead of trying "methods" to get him to read... just let him read books that he finds fun. His choice... besides the "school" books that are academic.

Go to Barnes & Noble online www.barnesandnoble.com or to Amazon www.amazon.com and do a search on books for 7 year olds.
Also, Scholastic has a great site too www.scholastic.com

You said he is very good at school. So... maybe his reading ability is fine? Do you just want him to read more... or is he bad at reading?

All the best,
Susan

I have to agree w/ other posters...find what he likes...no matter if it's magazines or books that are "too easy" for him...as long as he's reading, it shouldn't matter! My son is exactly the same way (and used to struggle w/ reading, so it was a big deal.) He is now a straight A/A+ student, but I still encourage him to read whatever will interest him...even if it's instructions on his Mythbusters science projects or things like that! As long as they are reading something that interests them and getting in some reading time regularly that way, he will be fine! Good luck!

I read with my son every night for years. It was extremely enjoyable for both of us, was a special bonding time and he is a big reader to this day (16 now). In the beginning I read more and he read less, we switched as he got older. We went through the Harry Potter series together and much more. Just be sure he is into what you are reading!

If there was a movie I wanted to see my mom always made me read the book first. It took a few book/movies, but I soon began to realize that I liked the books more than the movies and have been a big ready ever since. We started when I was about your sons age.
Good luck!

You should check out your local library and see what programs they are offering. Most do different things throughout the year. When the summer reading program comes around, sign him up! there are usually prizes for completing each level of the program, plus fun activities.

you just have to find "his" type of books. My son at seven loved the junie b jnoes books and the magic tree house books. at 8 it was the Hank the cowdog series. he tended to latch on to an author and read everything that author had written before moving onto another one. good luck

I think you should read with him.That will be enjoyable for both. Sit down, snuggle up with some great books from the library and take turns. It will help with future learning, spelling, computer use, etc.

Make it fun and show him it is something you value and enjoy. Read to him Dr Seuss and other fun books. We so enjoyed 'Fox in Socks'. Show him the pictures and have him pick out words here and there.
When my son was that age, we'd take turns - he'd read the even pages out loud and I'd read the odd pages. At some point we started reading chapter books for bed time stories, one chapter a night. We read dinosaur books and dragon books and fire truck books and wizard books - anything that might catch his interest. Every once in awhile I'd have a sore throat and lost my voice and could not read out loud. Then my son would read out loud to me. He'd get so interested in the story he wouldn't notice that sometimes it took a little effort to sound out the words, and then there was no holding him back!

Talk to his teacher and ask her/him for some help.

Make sure he knows how important reading is and make sure he sees you reading a variety of things, newspaper, cookbooks, magazines, instruction manuals, etc.

Try reading to him. Try reading with him, you read the first page, he reads the next.

Take him to the library and let him pick out the books he likes.

Get some books on tape, he can just listen so he can discover what he's missing by not reading OR he can follow along.

Good luck.

Does he like sports? Magazines are kinda cool. I once got a subcription to the Wrestling mag to get a boy to read. He really improved. I think if you find something he is really interested in, then it would be a little more relaxing for him. I wouldn't force it, kids go through these fazes. I was a nanny for a girl who when I started was eight and she could barely read the an Arthur book, after checking out easier books at the library so she felt better about reading, we took turns reading pages out loud. I also read to her a lot and so did her mom. In less than a year, she was reading chapter books by herself. She just wasn't sure what she like and just needed a little more time.

Good luck!

K.

There are so many things out there such as talking books, remember
the blind like to hear then follow the book with their hands. You can buy
the books then record the whole book in your voice or that of a relative
that he feels comfotable with. You can also read with him sitting next to you, what does he like, sports. My son loved the whestling magazines. Find his interest then obtain reading material.

I couldn't agree more with Pam.

We're heading a lot of people doing a method of taking turns with their kids. So, one night you read a few pages/chapters of a book. The next night it's his turn.

I'm not an avid reader, but my husband is. He reads to the kids every day. I wish I read more often - I usually end-up falling asleep and taking a year to read a good book.

I think even with kids that like reading, sometimes it's still a struggle to encourage them to read. Sometimes my daughter even says she's afraid if she learns, I'll stop reading to her. She's 7 also. I liked a lot of the suggestions given below. I'd add to it any Jon Sciezka books. My daughter loves the Time Warp Trio series. She isn't reading those on her own yet, but we do trade offs. If she reads a short story to me, I'll read 1 or 2 books to her. Sometimes we even trade off pages or paragraphs. You might try some of the graphic novels. Our library has a whole section of graphic novels for kids. My daughter really has gotten into writing her own books. Encourage him to write his own book and read it to you. (This has also helped my daughter with spelling- if you can't read what you wrote....) Also you can check out http://www.guysread.com. Sometimes what we do if it's a bad day and not going well is set the timer for X minutes. She reads to me until the timer goes off, then we set it again and switch. Start with short times (2 minutes) and get longer as it gets easier. Good Luck!

While I agree with everyone to get him books about things he likes, there could be something else causing the problem. A friend of mine had a daughter that just would not read. They tested her and evrything came out fine. After trynig to figure thing out and reading suggestions online, she made a special place in the home where her daughter could relax and read a book. She made sure the lighting was right, a comfy chair (beanbag for her). It worked, though it did take a little time. Now you cannot get her out of a book at 10 yrs old. For a former neighbor, her son actually needed glasses. It is still a struggle but he is reading more than before. My son was also not an avid reader at 7 yrs old. Now I will sometimes find his nose in a book instead of the video games or TV and I can't get him out of it for supper or going to the store. IN his case, it really has to be something he is interested in. He will sometimes complain we don't have any books at home and that is so not true--I am always buying books an it drives my husband crazy. :)

I wouldn't try to "make" him read more. I would try to encourage him by looking for things that he is really interested in. It doesn't have to be the highest quality stuff either. So if it is an action story that is fine. Also, are there a lot of distractions such as computer games/video stuff etc and TV around that he would rather do. I would try to ditch all that stuff. It is so addictive that children tend to choose it over other activities.

When he is watching TV turn the volume down and turn on the closed caption and he will have to read his favorite program. It is good for the whole family.

No TV or other media on during certain times of the day, especially for a couple hours before bed and especially no TV in the bedroom. Hopefully you have a bedtime routine of reading to him every night. But if you don't it is not too late. I read chapter books to my son at bedtime (we have already been through the entire Chronicles of Narnia and the entire Harry Potter series) and then he will read a simpler book to me. Have LOTS of books around the house and in his room. If our son has trouble falling asleep, we let him turn on a light and "read" his books (he is 6.5 and has just started reading the words to himself, he has mostly just looked at pictures before). Take your son to the library on a certain day every week and let him pick out any 5 books that interest him. Does he have his own libray card yet, he is old enough. If you have a conversation during the week and he asks questions about some topic, look up a book on that topic from the library. My son prefers non-fiction topics for books he looks at on his own...science, Civil War, dinosaurs, etc.

Remember that at 7, he is still an emerging reader. While he may still only be able to read simple books on his own, they might not be that interesting to him. So reading aloud to him from harder books that interest him will help to keep his interest in books. If you don't feel comfortable with your read aloud skills, get some books on tape/CD from the library.

the right books.

At that age I also challenged my son to read. we would time each other and see who could read the page, paragraph faster. It really helped him with his fluency.

I know this sounds counter-intuative, but we had great success with video games. There are quite a few that make you read in order to play. Pokemon, Spyro the Dragon, and Animal Crossing to name a few. Anything where there is text to read in order to play. Once my son was reading for that, he moved on to "real" reading. He is 7 now, and reads chapter books daily. Hope that helps, good luck!

Don't force him but do find his interests. Does he like comics?? Is there a favorite tv character? They often have the books for those. My son likes the Dumb Bunnies series, Junie B. Jones series, There Was on Old Lady...series, Tacky the Penguin series, Arthur books, Curious George and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie books and of course Sponge Bob, Peanuts, Diary of a Fly series, Pocket Dangerous Book for Boys. He is crazy about mad libs. Good luck finding what your is interested in!

I started with BOB books, Slowly i moved to the books that interest him like "lightning mcqueen,thomas,disney,Toy Story "etc books.
Good Luck