How to Raise Boys That Read-

I don’t think it’s a matter of boys not wanting to read Hardy Boys anymore- I think parents don’t read, so kids don’t read. Then to ‘bribe’ kids into reading, they cater to their baser desires, since that is what they themselves have done with their entertainment choices.

Kids also will follow the path of least resistance. As the author recommends, if electronic media is severely limited, kids will choose to occupy themselves with what is readily available, so parents either need to have a decent library in their homes, or make frequent trips to the library.

There are websites that can help parents figure out what books to choose for their kids- I’ve been checking out the reviews at http://www.commonsensemedia.org/ Common Sense Media - even when they recommend a book, the review includes information about what parents might find objectionable.

Here’s part of a review of http://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/adventures-captain-underpa…] The Adventures of Captain Underpants :

No one would mistake this for fine literature, but it may be a good pick for your reluctant reader: THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS is full of corny jokes, bad puns, bathroom humor, and rowdy, disrespectful behavior. If you or your kids can’t stand the thought of two boys “with a silly streak a mile long” using a piece of “fake doggy doo doo” to fight a diaper-wearing mad scientist, then this book isn’t for them. It’s for kids who love a good practical joke and won’t stop telling knock-knock jokes, and who’d rather be running around outside than reading.

While I don’t agree with the last sentence, the first part tells me all I need to know.

Focus on the Family has http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/protecting_your_family/book-r… some book reviews for parents that include many current popular titles, such as the books in The Hunger Games trilogy, the Uglies trilogy, the Percy Jackson series…

With resources like these, there is no excuse for parents not to be able to educate themselves and steer their kids toward decent reading material.

The Book Whisperer blog has had some good posts on this topic- one that came to mind was http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/book_whisperer/2009/01/parents_reading…] Parents: Reading Role Models or Victims of Readicide?

Teachers expect parents to support literacy at home—reading to their children, taking them to the library and buying books, and sharing their literacy lives. What about parents who cannot do the job?

… Schools are not creating capable, lifelong readers, yet we expect parents to rise from the ashes of their own reading failures or apathy and become reading role models for their own kids.

I hear it almost every day, “He is just like his father, he hates to read, too,” or “I was never a reader much myself, she must have gotten that from me,” as if reading interest and ability are traits you inherit like eye color or attached earlobes. A reading gene has not been found, but we recognize the environmental connection. Parents who don’t read often have children who don’t read, and the generational cycle continues on and on.

If we want our students to have reading role models at home, perhaps we should start graduating some.

But even if parents are readers, schools can actually hinder the process-

When our oldest daughter was in high school, the major activity in her English classes was watching movies adapted from books she never read. Our fourth grader spends her days cranking out endless test practice worksheets and reading Pollyanna for two months. It is all we can do to keep the reading fires burning in the deluge of soul-killing reading instruction our daughters receive at school.

At least some schools and teachers are acknowledging that testing focused methods are not really productive in the long run.

The author of the blog, Donalyn Miller, is a teacher who uses more of a ‘delight-directed’ approach in her classroom to inspire kids to read- but she doesn’t go overboard with an ‘it doesn’t matter what they read as long as they are reading’ attitude. I think her posts and her book (titled The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child) are helpful not just to teachers but to parents as well. I especially recommend her to homeschoolers, and she links to many resources that are helpful.

It has taken completely different approaches to inspire my kids to read. With Seth, all I had to do was tell him that he could stay up at night as late as he wanted as long as he was reading. Noah, however, was a very reluctant reader. I hooked him by a rather convoluted process- first, I checked out old radio shows on cassette and CD from the library- he loved The Shadow, Dragnet, The Lone Ranger and Fibber McGee and Molly. Then I slid in some audiobooks, like the http://djmachalebooks.com/books/pendragon/ Pendragon series, and from there it was easy. He had to understand for himself that reading really was enjoyable.

Emma Jo never had to be convinced to read, thankfully. And I really needed the break, because now I have another boy that needs convincing that reading is fun. Kenny has no interest in audiobooks, but loves listening to me read, especially if I do voices for the characters. http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php] http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-sick004.gif We are reading Dracula together right now (and discussing the current vampire craze)- so just picture the girl with the hillbilly twang doing convincing British and Romanian accents. Yes, it’s hilarious.

My parents didn’t come across to me as readers (even though I know my dad read alot), but they taught my brother and I to read at a young age, they disposed of the television, there was no such thing as a video game, and a trip to the library was like Christmas where the gifts were free.