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Does your child refuse to pick up a book? Does he struggle with schoolwork? Does he avoid the library? With the excitement of modern technology, more and more children are missing out on the magic of curling up with a good book.

We all want our children to grow up to be good readers. Well, there are a lot of things that we as parents can do to help our children become good readers and have fun doing it.

Other children grow frustrated when they can not keep up in school because of reading disabilities and give up on reading. Studies have shown that children who read do better in school and have higher scores on CAT and SAT tests.

This article will provide tips and techniques that will help you to encourage your child to develop a lifelong love of reading.

A Bedtime Story Each Night

It is a good idea to try to get in the habit of reading your child a bedtime story each night. Life can get busy, but if you could find the extra 15 minutes in your day to devote to reading to your child at bedtime, this can not only be a great bonding moment but can help them to become better readers. The time they spend hearing you read to them will cause them to learn to appreciate reading. It is never too early to start reading bedtime stories to your child.

Help Them Recognise Sight Words

As your child gets older, they will begin to start to recognise sight words. These are words like it, then, that, we, me, I, and, they, and us. It is believed that a child must see these words as many as a hundred times before they start to recognise them by sight. The more you read to your child, the more they get familiar with these words. By learning sight words, your child will be able to start reading more fluently and easier.

You can either purchase or make flashcards that include the sight words. Make a game out of going over the sight words with your child. You can give them points for every correct word they get. After they have accumulated a certain amount of points, they earn a reward. By making this a fun game for them you can help your child to associate learning with fun instead of it feeling like a chore.

Allow Them To Choose Their Own Books

Buy your child books that they show interest in while you are in the store. By allowing them to choose the books they get, you will be increasing their interest in reading the books. This is a great way to use their own likes and interests to interest them in reading.

Encourage Reading Wherever You Are

Encourage your child in helping you with reading at any opportunity, if you are in the store; ask for their help with real labels and signs. When you are out to eat, have them help you to read the items on the menu.

Buy Your Child Colouring Books That Have Sentences

Encourage them to read the sentences after they colour the pages. You can have them colour the entire book and then read it to you. They will think this is fun since they had a part in creating the book by colouring all of the pictures.

Read In Front Of Them

Another thing you will need to do is to awaken a love of books in your child. Read in front of him. Books, magazines, and newspapers are all important reading materials. Now is not the time to worry about Shakespeare. Make sure you have plenty of materials around the house that your child is interested in. There are books and magazines that cover almost every topic, from animal babies to extreme sports.

Restore Badly Damaged Self Confidence

However, when a child has a reading disability, the problem is bigger than a lack of interest in a topic. You need to restore badly damaged self-confidence before you can help your child to learn to read better. One of the easiest ways to raise self-esteem is to have your child read something he has already mastered to a younger child.

There are many simple books that a child with a 1st or 2nd-grade reading level can read easily. However, it is frustrating for kids to read these ìbabyî books to themselves. Very small children love to have someone read to them and older kids do not mind reading easier books to someone else.

Bring Home Some Of The Funniest Books You Can Find

Sit down and read them aloud to yourself. Even if your child doesn’t seem to be listening, he probably is. Storytelling is an old and venerable tradition that people have enjoyed for centuries and your child is no different. If you aren’t sure where to begin, look for books by John D. Fitzgerald, Roald Dahl, and Barbara Robinson.

These lighthearted stories are easy to read aloud. However, make sure you donít set yourself up for failure. Don’t read during favourite television shows or when your child wants to go out and toss a ball around. When you stop reading, take a lesson from the serial shows on television and stop at a cliffhanger.

Your child will want to hear what the outcome of the story is. Some children will even pick the book up and try to finish it on their own. If you notice your child starting to do this, get books that have an audiobook with them. Your child will learn as he is following along with the audio tape in the book.

Look For Easy-Read Books For Older Children

Finally, look for easy-read books for older children and adults. They are a bit hard to find, but your local library should be able to help you. They are very high-interest books without difficult vocabularies and the stories are not geared toward young children.

Don’t Expect Immediate Success

As you work with your child, don’t expect immediate success. Remember that children cannot learn when they feel that they are stupid. They often do not even try because they have learned that failure makes them feel bad.

If they don’t try to learn, they cannot fail. You need to overcome these feelings and set them up to succeed at something. It’s kind of like priming a siphon-once they get started, you will be able to encourage them to continue to learn, though it may be a very slow process.

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