This is my one and only parenting tip.
I have two sons, 7 & 9, and they are ridiculously keen readers. They beg to go to the library and bookstore. I write books so I guess it’s not a huge surprise but the thing is, they don’t read to please me.
There is one key thing that I believe has turned them on to reading. (Aside from frequent library trips, having lots of interesting books around, reading a lot myself, reading to them for ten minutes each night since they were in the womb and all the usual stuff. 😉
Here it is: If they choose to wake before 7am the only choice is to read. No Lego, no games, no TV, no beating one another for entertainment. Just read. Asterix, Tintin, Lego Annuals or meatier tomes. The choice is theirs. But if they don’t want to read, they must stay in bed and sleep or rest till 7am.
I encourage you to try it. You will either end up with a very well-read or a very well-slept child. Either works.
(Oh, and if your kids stay up late and need to be dragged from bed in the morn, maybe the above could be done for the last hour at night?)
