Reading and Kids

I was walking along the hospital hallway when I overheard an 8 or 9 year old kid complaining to his mom that reading is sooooo boring which of course earned a long litany from the mom how reading is important. Being a mom myself, I also encounter such complaints from my little one.

Gone are the days when kids curled up with a nice little book when it was too hot to play outside. Today, students spend any free time they have watching TV, going to the mall, tinkering with their mobile phones or playing video games. More and more parents are having a hard time encouraging them to read. Getting them to read books just for the sheer pleasure of reading is especially harder since kids just don’t seem to realize how important reading is.

Parents are now trying to find creative ways on how to encourage reading. Some of them they provide a book allowance, others get subscriptions to a magazine for their child. Others (like myself) they do "model reading".

The many benefits your students could reap from reading regularly should make the challenge of making them read a small price to pay. Consider the following:

- Reading develops a person’s creativity.
- Developing good reading skills can improve your students’ ability to understand concepts and ideas.
- Reading develops critical thinking, thus, ensuring that your students will be able to think and make good decisions for themselves.
- Reading introduces your students to new things and has the ability to broaden their interests.
- Reading regularly increases the vocabulary.

So, buckle up parents. You can do this. =)