Though my 2.5 year old DS can read quite well, he prefers not to read for me. I rarely insist him to read to me. But in the past few weeks, I have asked him occasionally to read beginning readers like Preschool Prep or Usborne beginning readers. He was reading it for the sake of me though he prefers to play during that time. Today when I asked him to read a book for me, he told that ‘Reading is NOT fun’. But when I persisted that he finish what he started, he complained that ‘iPad is fun and Reading is not fun’ and he wanted the iPad.
I am bit unhappy with his words when he said reading is not fun. I want him to love learning and books. I don’t know what I should do now. Do I need to stop asking him to read or do I need to put a structure in our daily chart to make him to read (even if he doesn’t want to) which will eventually become a habit?
James does love books, he loves me to read to him and we read a lot. Once we get started he says more more more.
But reading is hard. It is like a challenging workout. No one really wants to start it but the Aftermath feels amazing.
James is reluctant to start reading to me. But I now have expectation set up. He has to read 15 minutes before nap and before bedtime at night. It is just as much a part of our day as him putting on his shorts and shoes before going outside. He no longer fights or questions it. And once he does start reading to me he enjoys it! And he feels so accomplished each time he finishes a book. And 90% of the time he keeps asking for more. I also constantly remind him that hard work is worth it and so much more rewarding than easy work or no work at all. It took a while but I do think he sees that.
Now as for the iPad… The initial fun and anticipation is great. But most of the time the work is easier. James used to be app mad. But he currently doesn’t have too many challenging apps and frankly he is losing interst. He doesn’t have that accomplished aftermath that he has after doing something challenging. But he also does need to learn that not everything has a great payoff. So he gets boring and challenging stuff.
There are some interactive books available for the iPad. We have “Green Eggs and Ham” by Dr Seuss. I think there are many others. Maybe he would like them.
Yes there are tons of reading games in the iPad. If LO still prefers regular “games”, I suggest to treat them as a reward for doing a reading activity. We actually sold out iPad before because my DD is addicted to Talking Tom and the likes. Though she knows how to read already, she would spend lots of time on it. When I uninstall it, she finds a way to search for it and install it again. It was robbing a lot of time from better activities so we just decided to make do without an iPad. It was an extreme measure but that made her spend time with actual books so we had no regrets.
If he is reading beginner books then it isnt too hard to teach the same reading skills using games. Basically at the beginner books level of reading the idea is to increase fluency in the most commonly seem words. Words like the Dolch List (google it) and other sight word lists. Once the fluency is automatic for these words the reading itself becomes more enjoyable and less of a challenge. I would spend some time figureing out the end goal then focus on other ways to achieve it. Mrs Perkins has a great set of printable games for sight word fluency that all my kids loved. Spend your reading time playing these games for a few weeks and then begin a read every day routine. When you go back to every day reading start at a level you think will be easy so that the success is garenteed. Then creep up until you hit some resistence. Its OK if not every book they read is hard work for them. Its a delicate balance.
I also think those Dr Zuess interactive Ipad apps are a good idea. there are pleny to choose from and they are even more interesting than a book.
Continue to read to your child to make sure the opinion of books stays positive over all.
Here is Mrs Perkins website http://www.mrsperkins.com/
Thank you all for your suggestions. After reading the advice that Korrale4q posted, I used iPad as the reward. So, DS has to read a book of his choice and he will get the iPad only after this. He is so much addicted to iPad that he never minds reading books (even long ones) to me. We’re still continuing this practice and he picks a book daily without any prompt from me, finishes the book and goes to pick the iPad. He has progressed from Preschool Prep books to reading Level 3 Usborne beginning readers.
