My daughter isn’t interested in reading lately. I’ve been following her lead and not doing very much. Sometimes I can sneak reading into a fun activity but it is usually me reading to her. Her resistance has been going on for a few weeks. I’m getting worried that she will forget all that she had learned. I’m sure it is just a phase because she just loves saying “No” to everything lately. She is 2 1/2 yrs old. I think Dad Dude mentioned that even his child took a break from reading once, so I’m trying not to worry. I’m just wondering if there are any other parents out there dealing with the same thing. I’m going to download the new LR 2nd semester curriculum. Maybe she will like it. I’m hoping there are some new animals and food in it; those were her favorite categories. She had been reading some very simple sentences with lots of prompting - ie pointing to each word for her. Any reassurance or advice would be appreciated? For now I’m trying to just relax and only work on reading if she wants it. In the meanwhile we still read storybooks but she doesn’t pay attention to me pointing to the words. She just looks at the pictures. We used to do flashcards including lots of games, Little Reader materials, and sentences on whiteboard.
I am trying to think of things to help you…maybe you have already done stuff like this, but here is what we are doing now:
I have little flashcards I made and make more as we go along, really just small pieces of thickish paper, with words on them and we make sentences on the floor. She really likes the silly ones like Ayla is walking on the toast. Then I substitute words and put the card that says dolly on top of Ayla and now the sentence says dolly is walking on the toast. I googled for tricky words so I try and use some of those each time for her to learn, like do, here, come, so, her, the, you… So thats it really, we write sentences on the floor.
Your dd might be past this, but in the beginning I made a game where we had word cards with animal names on them, and we would lay them out and then she would match her plastic animal to the card with the right name on it.
Maybe that is not helpful at all but I wanted to reply and see if I could help cause it stinks when you hav a question and get no replies!
I hope you’re not too stressed out about the lack of interest your 2.5 DD is showing toward reading these days! We’ve had similar moments in our household too, which are offset by the days when we aren’t able to squeeze in ALL the books DS wants to read before bedtime! DS, who is now 4, began “reading” around the same age as you DD – I have to say there are still days when reading doesn’t make it onto the short version of the “to do list”. But overall, DS loves reading.
Enjoy the times when you “get” to read to DD, though she’s not reading she is getting “something” out of it, zero pressure, quality snuggle & story time with mom. Perhaps it is during your DD’s reading break, that other activities may be introduced & will be readily received (eg. simple crafts, exposure to music & dance – dancing around the house to some fun music…)
Take care & happy reading!
Plarka - We used to play the same matching game with my daughters plastic figures and words cards. Perhaps I should revisit that game. I also like your poor man’s spinny speller. However we haven’t done any phonics yet - just lots and lots of sight words. My daughter doesn’t know letter names or sounds yet. I’ve been dreading teaching phonics so I do I appreciate any tools or advice in that area. But I think I will wait till she is 3 yrs olds because she doesn’t seem ready for such an abstract concept yet. I just feel stuck. She used to love to read and teaching her was effortless. Now everything is a struggle. I’ve noticed that your daughter is 3 months younger than mine. I’ve read some of your old posts and I’m very impressed. Your daughter is advanced. How have you kept her interested? I’ve been teaching the fry list/ dolch list with plain wordflash on LR and doing sentences on whiteboard. Maybe I’ve just bored her to death. They are pretty stale. I’m thinking of laying off of the sentences and abstract words. Maybe I should go back to fun verbs and nouns. But at the moment, she isn’t really willing to do anything so I might have to lay low for a bit.
Genochye- Your advice is making me think that maybe I should be less concerned about increasing her reading skills, and just try to keep it fun. So if my DD doesn’t want to read then we will do other enriching activities. Actually I’m embarrassed to admit that we haven’t been doing much beyond coloring and playdough. Maybe I’ve put too much pressure on both of us. I just keep getting nervous that she will forget everything I have taught her. I read your old posts. It is reassuring that your DS went through similiar moments and learned to read independently by age 3! Anyway I’m going to follow your advice. Hopefully this is just a phase. She used to actually cry for her flash cards and Little Reader computer time. She used to look at flashcards by herself and God help anyone who tried to take them away. Well maybe those days will return. In the meanwhile it will be fun to do some crafts, etc. I should have been doing more of that stuff anyway. She does covet my son’s scissors.