March is National Reading Month—one of our favorite times of the year! Who doesn’t love settling down with a good book on a blustery March day? Well, plenty of people, it turns out. The U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has reported a historic drop in the percentage of kids who say they love to read.
In 2023, only 14 percent of 13-year-olds reported that they read for pleasure “almost every day.” Compare that to 27% of 13-year-olds in 2012. The numbers are declining in younger kids, too, with only 39% reading for pleasure on a daily basis. That’s down from 53% in 2012.
The benefits of regular pleasure reading are clear. Kids who read for pleasure perform better academically, show better-developed senses of empathy, and are even more likely to overcome socioeconomic barriers. That’s pretty impressive! Still, any parent knows that pushing kids too hard to do anything often has an opposite effect. How can we help kids fall in love with reading without making it seem like a chore? Here are a few suggestions to start them down the path to becoming lifelong readers!
Learning Through Listening
Does listening to a book REALLY count as reading? The first step toward truly helping kids fall in love with reading is to let go of the idea of reading as purely academic. Reading for pleasure isn’t school and kids don’t get graded on how much they enjoy it. The academic benefits of being a voracious reader will come later.
The easiest way to encourage kids to pick up new reading material on their own? You guessed it, it’s reading together. Carve out time to read a book together as a family. This might look like reading them a bedroom story, a family story time after dinner, or listening to audiobooks in the car. When reading becomes part of the daily routine, kids will begin to seek out stories on their own. Your local library system will likely have access to tons of exciting audiobook options for all interests and reading levels. Check them out!
(P.S. For those who didn’t know, Cricket Media offer over 1,400 short audiobooks on Audible for all ages and reading levels!)
Reading Doesn’t Always Mean Novels
A love of reading is a love of novels, right? Not necessarily. Some kids may not be big into novels—or books at all—but that doesn’t mean they can’t enjoy reading. They might not even have to put down their favorite devices. There are plenty of ways to enjoy reading without having to unplug. Here are just some of the options:
- Audiobooks (like we mentioned before!)
- eBooks (also accessible through your local library)
- Blogs or online articles
- Webcomics
On the other end of the spectrum, some kids are more hands-on. They don’t enjoy sitting and imagining stories— they like getting up and doing things themselves or learning new information. Showing kids what exactly they can DO with reading can inspire them to seek out plenty of reading material. Some of those options include:
- Cookbooks/ online recipes
- Craft books and how-to guides
- Brochures, maps, and signs, for tourist destinations. Ask your child to be the official tour guide on your next trip to a zoo, museum, or theme park. If they ask for ice cream, ask them to help find the ice cream stand.
- Plays for young actors
- Instructions for games
- Sports stats and recaps
Then there are kids who are just a little bit more visual. They’re more drawn to images than the written word. Finding material that’s heavy on pictures can help them fill in the blanks and get more comfortable with reading for pleasure. A few suggestions:
- Graphic novels and comic books
- Short-form comic strips
- Coffee table books of art and photography
- Signage at art museums
- Picture books or, for older kids, chapter books with illustrations.
Follow Your Heart
We all have our own niches when it comes to reading material. Some of us are true crime junkies, while others are big science fiction geeks. Others devour historical romances. And that latest best-seller that was a hit with our whole book club? Maybe it didn’t speak to us, and that’s okay. Falling in love with reading doesn’t mean falling in love with any and all reading material, and the same goes for our children. Look at your child’s passions and guide them to reading material that sparks that same sense of joy.
A budding ballerina might enjoy a biography of a real dancer, or a fiction book about a kid her own age pursuing her own ballet dreams. A D&D fanatic might not enjoy reading in school, but she might devour fantasy epics. A child who’s passionate about scouting might love reading true survival stories. Cookbooks, and comics might be what makes your child want to visit the library. They might branch out from there—or they might not.
Just because a book is highly recommended and award-winning doesn’t mean it will capture your child’s interest, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Let your children be the readers they are and not the readers we want them to be.
Short Form is Sweet
You might have noticed a change in the Language Arts curriculum at your child’s school over these past few years. If your child’s class is mostly reading excerpts and short stories and articles rather than full novels, there’s a reason for that. Many school systems now emphasize short form reading content over long-form. Some say it better prepares kids for standardized testing. Others say that kids can actually read them in class rather than having to assign homework. But there are also some powerful benefits to reading short stories and articles.
Magazines are an awesome way to encourage kid to read short-form content. There’s the fun novelty of receiving a new issue in the mail several times per year, and the shorter content doesn’t make reading feel like a challenge. Here are a few of our favorite magazines to help kids fall in love with reading!
LADYBUG: (Ages 3-6)
Perfect for that age when children first begin to develop reading skills, LADYBUG can help inspire a lifelong passion for reading. It’s packed with adorable cartoons and illustrations, fun puzzles, short and sweet stories, whimsical poetry, and more. Rebuses and action poems help kids get engaged with what they’re reading.
SPIDER: (Ages 6-9)
Newly independent readers love getting their very own magazines in the mail. The exciting stories in SPIDER feature real kids solving problems that may be familiar to kids, like trying out for the school soccer team and making a friend, or may transport them to new and familiar places, like an outer space detective agency or a magical forest. There’s also plenty of fascinating nonfiction articles, cool interactive activities, laugh-out-loud humor, and beloved cartoon characters.
CRICKET: (Ages 9-14)
CRICKET publishes the best of the best in children’s literature and artwork, spanning all genres from folktales to historical fiction adventures to serialized fantasy stories to contemporary fiction. Visit a haunted house, tame a wild horse on the frontier, get ready for a school play, and more. With thought-provoking poetry, stunning illustrations, crafts, recipes, and brainteasers, CRICKET has something for every reader. Plus, check out contributions from CRICKET readers in each issue!
Be a Role Model
Possibly the most important thing that any parent or guardian can do to help their kids become avid readers? Modeling being a reader themselves. Look at your own reading habits. After a long day, do you settle down on the sofa to scroll on your phone but complain when your kids do the same? Many of us love reading but just can never seem to make time for it. Making the conscious choice to read often and enthusiastically can help kids fall in love with reading, too. Plus, talking about what you’re reading can give kids an idea about what kinds of reading material they might enjoy, too.
For example, imagine saying this at the breakfast table: “Wow, I’ve been reading the most exciting mystery. Every chapter leaves me wondering what will happen next. I think I have an idea about where the missing person went, but I’m not sure if the author is playing a trick on me.”
Your kid might think, “That sounds fun. Maybe I will try reading a mystery story next! I’ve never been to the mystery section at the library.”
Kids can also become reading role models themselves! Big brothers and big sisters may not always feel like reading, but they might enjoy reading a book to a younger sibling or helping them pick out their books. That, in turn, might help them become more engaged with their own reading!
What strategies have you used to help kids develop a lifelong love of reading? We’d love to hear about it!
