“There is no such thing as a child who hates to read; there are only children who have not found the right book.” – Frank Serafini
Reading is regarded as a highly valuable hobby as well as skill. The positive effects of reading last well into school, university and work life. Successful people, despite being extremely busy, tend to take out sufficient time to read deeply inspiring and informative literature. The benefits of reading are quite well known. An international school student stands to gain a lot from multicultural literature. So how does one actually turn it into a lifelong habit?
There are fortunately many ways to cultivate a lifelong habit of reading. Blogs and short articles do serve their purpose, but reading entire books on a particular subject of interest helps one deeply understand, analyse and critique its various aspects.
Ways to cultivate reading habits
- Read to children: It has been often repeated that one must read to children, yet this task carries a huge significance. Kids effortlessly pick up habits from their parents and older siblings. Deliberately reading in the presence of your children or reading to them will encourage them to pick up a book and start reading it themselves.
- Gift them a new book as often as you can:Pick up interesting books from your travels; at airports and bookstores in various cities and bring them home.
- Cut back on unproductive TV and internet time: Although the advent of the internet has helped books reach a larger audience, there are plenty of ways to waste time surfing the internet or watching mindless television.
- Create an achievement hall of fame: Make a list of the books that you and your child have read, and celebrate your success!
- Make reading time fun: Learning is a serious business but making reading time exciting and entertaining helps far more than a rigid and boring reading session.
- Let your child join a reading club: Many international schools organise reading clubs. Trio World Academy, Bangalore has its very own reading club that every child is required to join. TRIO library has over 22000 books and digital resources.
Many libraries in Bangalore organise reading events regularly to increase interest among children. They also organise theme based literary events, and book reading sessions by authors. - Organise a read-a-thon: A group of children can gather together to read a specified number of books over a fixed period of time with a challenging goal such as raising money for charity.Trio World School organises read-a-thon every year.
- Understand a child’s preferences. It is also important to understand the likes and dislikes of children so you can provide them with books that they enjoy. Every month at least take once child to book stores.There are plenty of good book stores in Bangalore.Like Sapna Book Depot
- Cultivate a dedicated reading space: Try to create a dedicated zone in your home with minimal distractions and comfortable seating arrangements. Fill it up with interesting genres of books.
- Introduce books of increasing complexity: As kids gain mastery over a certain level of reading skills, push them to try more complex works of literature.
Children can simply start by spending 15 to 20 minutes a day reading a book of their choice. As they get better at this skill, they will learn to enjoy it more. It will enhance their language skills and turn them into good conversationalists. They will meet fictional characters who will influence their worldviews tremendously. Books will teach them critical thinking, reasoning, ethics, responsibility and problem solving. You might also be moulding one of the future’s best-selling authors!
Happy Reading 🙂
